Cop\Tlglit N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Nineteen Centuries 

of the Christian 

Church 



Daniel Webster Kurtz, M. A., D. D. 

Author of "An Outline of Fundamental Doctrines of Faith" 
President-elect of McPherson College, McPherson, Kansas 



Published by the 

General Sunday School Board 
of the Church of the Brethren 

ELGIN, ILLINOIS 



Printed and Sold by 

Brethren Publishing House 
elgin, ill. 



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Copyright, 1914 

General Sunday School Board 

Church of the Brethren 

Elgin, Illinois 



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JUN -4 im 



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©CI.A376318 

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DEDICATED 

TO 

THE FRIEND OF EVERYBODY 

AND 

A MOTHER TO THE NEEDY AND SAD 

MARY S. GEIGER 

WHOSE LIFE OF FAITH, HOPE, LOVE, IS ONE OF THE 

BRIGHTEST STARS IN THE HISTORY OF THE 

CHRISTIAN CHURCH 



THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

There is scarcely a paragraph in this lit- 
tle book where the author did not feel handi- 
capped by the space limitations put upon 
him. It is extremely difficult to condense 
a great subject to such narrow limits and 
yet show the movement of history, the 
development of the ideas, creeds, forms and 
problems of the church. It has been the 
purpose of the author to make this work 
suggestive, to point out as far as possible 
the causes and effects of the great move- 
ments of church history. 

The general scheme of the history of the 
church the author received from his teach- 
ers, Walker of Yale, and Harnack of Ber- 
lin. But over a hundred authorities have 
been consulted more or less in preparing 
this work. As far as possible original 
sources, such as the church fathers, have 
been used as the basis of judgment. 

Recognition has been given, throughout 
the book, of the authors whose words have 
been quoted exactly. The other sources 
are too numerous to catalogue here. 

It is suggested that the teachers of 
" training classes " should read larger 
works on the history of the Church, at 
least outlines such as Zenos' " Compendium 



PREFACE 

of Church History," or Moncrief s " Church 
History," and also consult the more com- 
prehensive works of Newman, Schaff, 
Hurst, " The Ten Epochs of Church His- 
tory," and for some subjects the classic 
works of Milman and Robertson. 

The size of this book is not the measure 
of the labor put upon it, but if it will in- 
troduce our people to a larger interest in 
the history of the Church, the author will 
feel amply repaid for his labor. 

D. W. K. 

June i, ipi 4. 

Philadelphia, Pa. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



I. The Apostolic Age, 4 B. C. to 
100 A. D 9 

II. From the Apostolic Age to Con- 
stantine, 100 to 313 31 

III. From Constantine to Gregory I., 
315 to 590 53 

IV. From Gregory to Charlemagne, 
590 to 814 71 

V. From Charlemagne to Gregory 
VII., 814 to 1073 85 

VI. From Gregory VII. to Boniface 

VIII., 1073 to 1294 99 

VII. From Boniface VIII. to Luther's 

Theses, 1294 to 1517 119 

VIII. The Reformation, 1517 to 1648... 135 

IX. The Church of the Brethren 159 

X. From Kant (1780) to the Present. .179 



Nineteen Centuries of the 
Christian Church 



CHAPTER I. 



The Apostolic Age, 4 B. C. to 100 
A. D. 

I. INTRODUCTION. 

Church history is older and younger than 
Christ. In one sense the true Church of 
God might be traced back to the prophets. 
In the other sense, the Church organization 
began after the " resurrection faith " be- 
came the basis of the Church. Without this 
faith the disappointed apostles would never 
have united to perpetuate the life and teach- 
ings of Jesus. 

Church history, proper, is the study of 
organized Christianity. It includes (1) 
Christian Life and Worship. (2) Church 
Extension or Missions. (3) Christian Doc- 
trine or Theology. (4) Church Government. 
(5) Christian Literature. 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE 

The history of the Church, according to 
time, is divided into, (1) The Ancient 
Church, 4 B. C. to 590 A. D. (2) The Me- 
dieval Church, 590 A. D. to 1517 A. D. (3) 
The Modern Church, 1517 to the present. 
These epochs are again divided into periods, 
according to the chapters of this book. 

II. JUDAISM. 

Before we can understand the rise of the 
Christian Church we must understand her 
background in Judaism. 

1. The Old Testament was the Scriptures 
of the first Christians. It teaches (1) Mon- 
otheism — the God of Abraham, the Creator 
of all things, is also the Father of Jesus 
the Christ. (2) A high ethics — righteous- 
ness and holiness, which find their climax 
in the great prophets (Isa. 6. Mic. 6: 8. Hos., 
Amos). Jesus was in line with the spiritual 
and moral teachings of the prophets, rather 
than a successor of the priests. (3) Forms 
of worship, which were developed by later 
Judaism into the synagogue and temple 
worship, forming a model for the new 
Church. (4) Hymnology. The Book of 
Psalms, the hymn book of the second tem- 
ple, was inherited by the Christians. (5) 
The Sabbath, rites, feasts and officials. 

10 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE 

2. The Messianic Hope. The Old Testa- 
ment contains many references to the Mes- 
sianic Kingdom and the coming of the Mes- 
siah, but these were more highly developed 
by Judaism in the apocalyptic and apocry- 
phal literature. This strong expectation of 
the kingdom of God with the Messiah as 
King, prepared the way for Christianity. 

3. The Dispersion. The Jews were scat- 
tered, in the time of Christ, over the entire 
Roman Empire. Everywhere they built 
synagogues. These synagogues were the 
centers of Christian missions for a century. 
They also became the model for the Chris- 
tian Church. 

III. THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

In the fullness of time Christ came (Gal. 
4:4). God had prepared the world for the 
coming of Christ. 

1. One Language. By the conquest of 
Alexander the Great (Battle of Arbela, 331 
B. C), the Greek language spread over the 
entire civilized world. 

2. One Empire. By 31 B. C. the Roman 
Empire became universal. Universal peace 
reigned. The universal empire became a 
model for the future organization of the 
Church. 

11 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE 

3. One People. Race barriers were bro- 
ken down and all the provinces called them- 
selves Roman. 

4. International Traffic. The Roman 
roads and sea traffic were excellent, and the 
extensive commerce of the day caused an 
intermingling of races and an interchange 
of ideas. One Phrygian merchant (accord- 
ing to his tombstone) made seventy-two 
trips to Rome. 

5. Religious Toleration. As long as re- 
ligious sects made no civil disturbances they 
had great freedom. The Jews and Chris- 
tians were not persecuted until suspected of 
civil opposition or national treason. 

6. Decay of Other Religions. The Greek 
gods were discredited and their philosophies 
became puerile. The world despaired of 
salvation save by miracle or from above. 
People everywhere were turning to " some- 
thing new." Monotheism and a higher 
ethics were taught by Socrates, Plato, Aris- 
totle and the Stoics, but only the few could 
understand these high teachings. 

7. A New Psychology. Men everywhere 
distinguished between soul (or spirit) and 
body; God and the world; knowledge and 
life; sin and salvation. Men began to feel 

12 



JOHN THE BAPTIST. JESUS 

their entanglement in contradicting philos- 
ophies and hopeless bondage to sin, and 
longed for a power from above. 

IV. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 

John was the last and greatest of the 
prophets, who announced the presence of 
the kingdom and the King. He taught, 
further, that not birth (race) but righteous- 
ness was the true condition of entrance into 
the new kingdom; repentance and baptism 
for the remission of sins ; baptism, as the 
true symbol of a complete cleansing or 
change of heart; and the judgment upon 
those who do not repent (Luke 3:3). 

V. JESUS. 

The New Testament does not give us a 
complete biography of Jesus, but a series 
of character sketches. We have the events, 
the teachings, and the impressions of Je- 
sus. 

1. The Events of Jesus. The events of 
Jesus are the things which he did and the 
things which others did to him. (1) Born 
4 B. C. at Bethlehem of Judea. (2) He grew 
up at Nazareth of Galilee, where he ad- 
vanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor 

13 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE 

with God and men (Luke 2:52). (3) He 
was a devout Jew; attended the feasts 
at Jerusalem and the synagogue at Naza- 
reth. To fulfill all righteousness he went 
to John to be baptized (Mark 1:9-11; Matt. 
3: 13-17). (4) His baptism and temptation 
were immediately followed by his entrance 
upon his public ministry (Mark 1:14, 15). 
(5) His primary work was preaching and 
teaching the " Gospel of the Kingdom " 
(Luke 4:18). (6) "Because of compas- 
sion " he healed the sick and fed the hungry, 
and performed other deeds of mercy (Mark 
1:41; 6:34). (7) He was rejected by the 
Jews, was persecuted and crucified (John 
19). The evening before his crucifixion he 
instituted the ordinances of feet-washing, 
the agape, and the eucharist (John 13; 1 
Cor. 11. (8) His resurrection and ascension 
welded the disciples together into a family, 
transformed their waverings into a trium- 
phant faith, and impelled them to spread his 
kingdom. 

2. Jesus' Teaching. (1) The Fatherhood of 
God and the brotherhood of man in a newer 
and deeper sense than in the Old Testa- 
ment. (2) The kingdom (reign) of God 
and its gradual growth from small begin- 

14 



FOUNDINGS OF THE CHURCH 

nings to universal triumph (Mark 13). The 
kingdom of God means the spiritual reign 
of God in the hearts of men. The Church 
is the organization, the means, by which 
the reign of God is established in men's 
hearts. (3) The higher ethics and the law 
of love. Religion is not formalism, or 
worldly success, but righteousness and 
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. 14: 
17). ~"~" Except your righteousness exceed 
that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall 
in no wise enter into the kingdom of heav- 
en " (Matt. 5:20). Love is the power by 
which this holy life is attained (Rom. 13: 
10). 

3. The Impression Jesus Made upon 
others — friends and foes. Jesus' disciples 
left^all and followed him. Peter confessed 
for them all, " Thqu art the Christ, the Son 
of the living God " (Matt. 16:16); Pilate 
said r " I find no fault in him " (John 19 : 4, 
6). Jesus' own conscience never condemned 
him. " Which of you convicteth me of sin " 
(John 8: 46)? 

VI. THE FOUNDINGS OF THE 
CHURCH. 

The word " Church," ecclesia, means 
" The called out." Paul speaks of the 

15 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE 

Church under the figures of " a building," 
" the body of Christ," and also " the bride 
of Christ." The Church then consisted of 
all the disciples of Christ, called out of the 
world, who organized themselves together 
to propagate the life and teachings of Je- 
sus. At first there was no organization; a 
spiritual unity with Christ as Head. All 
were held together by a common love and 
purpose. Organization came gradually. 

The " invisible Church " or the reign 
(kingdom) of God may be larger or smaller 
than organized Christianity. Church history 
has to do only with the visible Church or 
the " Church militant." This got its real 
start or impetus at Pentecost (Acts 1 and 
2). The command (Acts 1:8) was carried 
out. The Christians at Jerusalem wor- 
shiped in the temple, and were in most 
respects like Jews in their worship and life. 
Persecutions scattered the Christians and 
spread Christianity. This is one of the su- 
preme examples where good came out of 
apparent evil. 

VII. PAUL. 

1. Paul was born in Tarsus, a Pharisee, of 
the tribe of Benjamin, educated in Jerusa- 
lem in the school of Gamaliel, and became a 

16 



PAUL 

zealous persecutor of the Christians 
(Philpp. 3:5, 6). 

2. He Consented To and Assisted in the 
martyrdom of Stephen, who was the real 
victor in the tragedy (Acts 7:58; 8: 1). 

3. Paul Went to Damascus with author- 
ity to persecute the Christians, and on the 
approach to the ancient city was converted 
to the Christ whom he persecuted (35-36 
A. D.; Acts 9). 

4. After Some Years he entered upon 
his great missionary career, through which 
the center of Christianity was transferred 
from Palestine to Rome (Gal. 1: 17; 2:1). 

5. Paul's Missionary Journeys. (1) First 
Journey. With Barnabas and John Mark 
to Cyprus and the cities of southern Gala- 
tia, Perga, Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and 
Derbe (Acts 13, 14; 47 A. D.). (2) Second 
Journey (Acts 15: 41; 16; 17; 18). Paul 
revisited the cities in Galatia, of the first 
journey, then pressed on to the northwest 
and came to Troas, where he received the 
Macedonian call. He entered Europe and 
visited Philippi (Acts 16: 20-40), Amphip- 
olis (Acts 17: 1), Apollonia (Acts 17: 1), 
Thessalonica (Acts 17: 1-9), Berea (Acts 
17:10-13), Athens (Acts 17:15-34), Cor- 
inth (Acts 18: 1), Cenchrea (49 A. D.; Acts 

17 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE 

18:18), and back to Jerusalem (Acts 18: 
22), via Ephesus. (3) Third Journey (Acts 
18:23 to 20:3). This journey (52 A. D.) 
covers practically the same territory as the 
second journey. During this journey he 
made his long stay at Ephesus (Acts 19: 
1 to 20: 11). On his return to Jerusalem he 
went from Troas to Assos, then to Mitylene 
(Acts 20:4), Chios (v. 15), Samos, Trogyl- 
lium, Miletus (vs. 16-38), Coos (Acts 21: 
1), Rhodes, Patara, Tyre, Ptolemais (Acts 
21:7), Csesarea and Jerusalem. (4) Paul 
was made a prisoner at Jerusalem, and was 
taken to Csesarea (Acts 23:33). Here he 
remained more than two years, where he 
was tried by Felix and Herod Agrippa 
(Acts 24-26). He appealed to Rome, whith- 
er he was taken, the ship touching at Zidon 
(Acts 27:3), Myra, Malta, Syracuse, Rhe- 
gium, Puteoli, and the Appian Way to Rome 
(59 A. D.). Further journeys of Paul are 
quite problematic and can not be discussed 
here. Paul was imprisoned in Rome, where, 
however, he had some freedom, but was 
finally martyred. 

VIII. THE OTHER APOSTLES. 

Very little is known positively about the 
other apostles. Only hints here and there 

18 



THE OTHER APOSTLES 

and traditions of uncertain value are avail- 
able. 

1. Peter. It is generally believed that Pe- 
ter suffered martyrdom at Rome 64 A. D., 
during the Neronian persecutions. The 
traditions that he was for twenty-five years 
Bishop of Rome are entirely untrustworthy. 
They arose late in the second century. 

2. James, the Lord's Brother. James was 
Bishop of the Church at Jerusalem, where 
he was condemned and martyred (A. D. 61- 
66). 

3. Others. " We know almost nothing of 
the career of John from the time of the 
Apostolic Conference, when Paul reckoned 
him as one of the ' pillars ' of the Jerusalem 
Church, to the Neronian persecution. It is 
probable that, long before A. D. 64, he had 
entered upon his missionary work in the 
province of Asia, but his writings and the 
most we know of his labors are of a later 
date. To Jude, a brother of the Lord, a 
short canonical epistle is ascribed. He 
probably remained in connection with the 
Jerusalem Church. Early tradition of un- 
certain value represents Andrew, Matthew, 
and Bartholomew as laboring in the region 
of the Black Sea; Thomas, Thaddeus, and 

19 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE 

Simon the Canaanite in the remote East, as 
far as India, and Philip in Asia Minor. We 
have no trustworthy accounts of the results 
of their labors, or the dates or circumstances 
of their death." * Tradition also says that 
Mark labored in Egypt and founded the 
Church at Alexandria. 

IX. IMPORTANT EVENTS OF THE 
PERIOD. 

1. Jerusalem Council (Acts 15). The 
mission work of the Church raised impor- 
tant questions of doctrine. The Jerusalem 
Christians continued to keep the Jewish 
feasts, to circumcise their children, and to 
comply with Jewish customs in general. 
These Jewish Christians (see Galatians) 
thought the Gentiles could become Chris- 
tians only by first becoming Jews, through 
circumcision and the ordinary rites of mak- 
ing proselytes. 

Paul preached that man is saved by faith, 
through God's grace, and that the Gentiles 
could come direct to Christ without the 
Jewish law. Paul was victorious in the 
conference which decided (1) To grant free- 
dom to the Gentiles from the law. (2) To 

*Newman (Ch. Hist), Vol. I, p. 110. 

20 



IMPORTANT EVENTS OF PERIOD 

call their attention to the ethical teachings 
of Christianity (Acts 15:20). 

2. Nero's Persecutions. Nero burned the 
city of Rome in 64 A. D. The conflagration 
went far beyond his expectations, wiping 
out the greater part of the city, with many 
of its principal buildings. The people re- 
sented this, and Nero, to shift responsibility 
from his own shoulders, blamed the Chris- 
tians for the burning of the city. No doubt 
Nero's wife, Poppsea, a Jewess, suggested 
this to him. The Christians were covered 
with the skins of animals and torn to pieces 
by dogs; and others were covered with tar 
and burned to light the city. It was doubt- 
less during the Neronian persecutions that 
both Peter and Paul were martyred, 64-65 
A. D. Nero's persecutions from 64 to 68 
were indescribably horrible. 

3. The Fall of Jerusalem, A. D. 70. From 
A. D. 44 on, the Roman procurators had 
been bad and avaricious men. In A. D. 66 
the Jewish Zealots revolted in Caesarea. 
Twenty thousand Jews were slaughtered in 
Caesarea, and this resulted in a general up- 
rising of the Jews. Fifteen thousand Jews 
were slaughtered in Scythopolis. Vespasian 
was sent by Nero, 67 A. D., to quell the re- 

21 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE 

bellion. Nero died in 68, and in 69 Vespa- 
sian became emperor. His son Titus then, 
with an army of 80,000, besieged Jerusalem, 
70 A. D. Famine, pestilence, and cannibal- 
ism added to the horrors of the siege. As 
soon as any part of the city fell into the 
hands of the Romans, the inhabitants were 
ruthlessly executed. Over 1,000,000 were 
slaughtered and 100,000 taken captive. 
Others were sent into slavery, and the choic- 
est young men were compelled to enter the 
gladiatorial exhibitions. The temple was 
destroyed. The Zealots who escaped went 
to Alexandria and caused an insurrection 
there, which resulted in their destruction 
with the temple at Leontopolis. 

The result of the fall of Jerusalem and 
the temple was, for Christianity, a blessing 
in disguise. (1) No more temple worship 
and Jewish formalism. (2) Christians felt 
that this destruction was the fulfillment of 
Jesus' prophecies (Matt. 21:43; 23:37-39; 
Luke 21:20-28). (3) It intensified the 
zeal of the Christians, and spiritualized 
their religion. 

4. Persecutions of Domitian, A. D. 81 to 

96. Domitian was a cruel, arrogant, auto- 
cratic emperor. He assumed the titles of 

22 



CHURCH EXTENSION. LITERATURE 

"God," "Lord and God," "Jupiter," etc., 
and demanded the people to worship the 
State religion incarnated in himself. He 
sent spies all over the empire and (94-96) 
cruelly persecuted all who did not worship 
in his name. Domitian was a second Nero 
(Rev. 17: 11) in cruelty. Probably at this 
time John was banished to the Isle of Pat- 
mos. 

X. CHURCH EXTENSION. 

By the end of the first century (100 A. 
D.) Christianity had spread over Judea, Sa- 
maria, Syria, Asia Minor, Macedonia, 
Achaia, Arabia, Italy, Egypt and North 
Africa, and as far as Spain. The method 
of propagation was such missionary activ- 
ities as Paul's, and the rapid spread of ideas 
through commerce and travel. But most of 
all it was the practice of the early Chris- 
tians to bear testimony to all their neigh- 
bors and friends of the power of Christ, the 
resurrected Lord. Everyone was a mis- 
sionary. 

XL LITERATURE. 

When Jesus ascended, his disciples ex- 
pected his speedy return. But as his second 
coming was delayed they finally, for prac- 

23 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE 

tical reasons, wrote down his words and 
deeds. 

Scholars differ very widely as to the exact 
dates when the various books of the New 
Testament were written. 

The entire New Testament was written 
from about 50 A. D. to 95 A. D. Paul's 
Epistles were written from about 50 to 65 
A. D. The first three Gospels were written 
between 65 and 85 A. D. ; John's Gospel, 
not before 95 A. D. The Apocalypse (Rev- 
elation) was no doubt written during the 
persecutions of Domitian (94-96) ; some 
think during Nero's persecutions (64-68) ; 
the Epistle of James about 61 A. D. (author- 
ities differ from 45 to 130 A. D.) ; Epistle 
to the Hebrews, about 80 A. D.; John's 
Epistles about the same time as his Gospel. 
The date and authorship of any writing are 
determined by the external authorities, tra- 
ditions, etc., as to when the book was quoted 
or used and to whom it was attributed ; and 
also to the internal evidence of the subject 
matter which often refers to events or ideas 
which can be definitely dated. Besides the 
books which are now in the New Testament 
canon, other Gospels and Epistles were 
written which were not selected for the New 
Testament canon (Luke 1:1). 

24 



CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORSHIP 

XII. CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WOR- 
SHIP. 

The keynote of Christianity was victory 
over the world and sin through faith. Even 
the worst enemies of the Christians testified 
to their pure and noble lives. Their wor- 
ship was simple. There was no ritual and 
formalism which characterized the later 
Church. 

Their theology was the " Theology of the 
Good Shepherd." Their religion was not 
the religion of a book, but of a Person, the 
living Lord. Baptism was only for believ- 
ers and by trine immersion. 

Their church services consisted in bear- 
ing testimony to the power of Christ in 
their lives, prayers and thanksgiving, hymns 
and psalms, and the common meal with the 
eucharist. An important part of all these 
services was the free-will offerings for the 
poor. 

XIII. CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 

As early as the Conference at Jerusalem 
(49-50) we find apostles, elders, and breth- 
ren working conjointly. Eph. 4:11: "And 
he gave some to be apostles; and some, 

25 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE 

prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, 
pastors and teachers." Acts 6: 1-6 tells 
that seven men full of wisdom and of the 
Spirit were chosen for the work of charity. 

1. Apostles (meaning of word, — " one 
sent," i. e., missionary). The apostles were 
first of all the twelve; then also others who 
had seen the Lord and witnessed his resur- 
rection. Paul called himself an apostle. 
There was also a broader meaning, for 
others are called apostles, as Barnabas, 
Apollos, Timothy, Silvanus, Junias, etc. 
These were great missionaries, who went 
about with authority to create, advise and 
direct churches. 

2. Prophets (forth-teller). The primary 
meaning of prophet is not to foretell events, 
but to speak forth the truth as God has re- 
vealed it directly to the conscience of the 
prophet. These prophets in the New Testa- 
ment were evidently gifted preachers with 
great insight into spiritual things, who 
preached with power. 

3. Evangelists. The evangelists were no 
doubt mission workers in a larger sense 
than the average layman, but not to the ex- 
tent of the apostles. The meaning of the 
word is, "A preacher of the Good News." 

26 



CHURCH GOVERNMENT 

4. Pastors and Teachers. In Eph. 4:11 
these two words are taken together, and 
doubtless refer to the double function of the 
same office. The pastor's work is to guard, 
feed, teach and perfect the saints, that they 
may do their work of ministering and build- 
ing up the body of Christ. See also John 
21 : 15-17, " Feed my sheep." 

5. Elders or Bishops. The word " elder " 
has a Jewish, and the word " bishop " a 
Greek origin. All authorities agree that 
in the early Church the two words — elder 
and bishop — referred to the same persons 
and offices, or at least, offices of equal rank 
(Acts 20:17, 28). Their duties were to 
oversee the churches and administer disci- 
pline, settle disputes, conduct the public 
services and also supervise the charities of 
the Church. Later on, one of these elders 
became president and took the Greek name, 
"overseer," a bishop (overseer). 

6. Deacons. (Meaning, minister.) In Acts 
6, the seven men chosen were to have a par- 
ticular ministry — to have charge of the char- 
ities of the Church. This soon was done by 
the bishop, who became treasurer of the 
poor-fund. The seven deacons bore testimo- 
ny and preached the same as preachers. In 

27 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE 

the later Apostolic Church (1 Tim. 3) there 
was a board of deacons distinct from the 
" elders " or " bishops." Their principal func- 
tion seems to have been the gathering and 
distributing of the charities, while the over- 
seer (bishop) had charge of them. 

XIV. THEOLOGICAL TENDENCIES. 

In spite of the simple life and worship of 
the apostolic age, there already appeared 
theological tendencies which came to frui- 
tion later. 

1. Dogma. The opposition and skepti- 
cism of the age demanded an intellectual 
proof The Epistle to the Hebrews is theo- 
logical throughout. Definitions, arguments, 
and analogies are marshaled to defend the 
Gospel. 

2. Sacramentalism. The symbols began 
to be used in a Jewish or even heathen 
sense ; that they would by themselves work 
out salvation. 

3. Ecclesiasticism — identifying the visible 
Church with the invisible body of Christ. 

4. Asceticism. By the great contrast of 
flesh and spirit, men began to flee from the 
world rather than to overcome the world. 

5. Chiliasm — belief that the millennium 

28 



QUESTIONS 

was near at hand, and thus neglect the 
greater Christian duties of loving service 
and missionary endeavor, by lazily waiting 
for Christ's coming. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. Define Church history. Into what three 
epochs is it divided? What phases of Christian- 
ity does Church history treat? 

2. What relation has Judaism to Christianity? 
Name three things that the Church inherited 
from the Old Testament. Name two more ways 
in which Judaism has paved the way for the 
Church. 

3. What is the meaning of Gal. 4: 4? Name six 
ways in which God prepared the world for 
Christ's coming. 

4. What is John the Baptist's relation to Jesus? 
What did he teach? 

5. What do we know about Jesus? What was 
Jesus' primary work? Name five other events of 
Jesus' life. Sum up Jesus' teachings in three 
statements. What is the nature of the kingdom 
of God? What impression did Jesus make upon 
others? 

6. Distinguish between the " visible " and " in- 
visible " Church. Which do we study? When 
did the Church begin? 

7. Who was Paul? What was his character? 
Describe his conversion. How many missionary 
journeys did he make and what countries did he 
visit? 

8. Who was Peter? Where did he die? What 
do you know about James, the Lord's brother? 
Where did John do mission work? 

29 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE 

9. Name four important events of this period. 
Describe each. 

10. How did the early Christians spread their 
religion? How far had Christianity spread at the 
end of the first century? 

11. When was the New Testament written? 
How many books of the New Testament were 
written by missionaries? How many epistles 
were written to missionary churches? 

12. What can you say of the morals of the 
early Christians? How did they worship? 

13. Name the officers and leaders of the Apos- 
tolic Church. What were their functions? 

14. Name five theological tendencies in the 
Apostolic Age. 



30 



CHAPTER II. 

From the Apostolic Age to Constan- 
tine, 100 to 313 A. D. 

I. POLITICS. 

The Roman Emperors, from Nerva (96 
A. D.) to Marcus Aurelius (161-180), were 
great statesmen who tried, for the most 
part, to maintain the dignity and glory of 
Rome. With Commodus starts a period of 
decay. Caracalla (211) and Elagabalus 
were wicked and inhuman to extremes. In 
286 Diocletian chose Maximinus associate 
ruler. The empire had become hopelessly 
weakened through drunkenness, vice, sen- 
suality, divorce, luxury on the part of the 
rich and those in authority, and extreme 
poverty among the masses. The barbarians 
on the North were breaking through; the 
Persians on the East revolted. 

The statesmen of Rome, realizing the de- 
cay of power and the dangers from within 
and without, often attributed the cause to 
the decay of the Roman religion and the 

31 



APOSTOLIC AGE TO CONSTANTINE 

aggression of Christianity. Through efforts 
to revive the old Roman religion, Christian- 
ity was persecuted. 

II. PERSECUTIONS. 

The persecutions fall naturally into three 
periods. 

1. From Trajan (98) to Marcus Aurelius 
(161). These persecutions were not 
so violent and were of limited area. 
The Jews revolted under Bar Cochab (132- 
135), and were suppressed with a loss of 
580,000 Jews in Palestine. Many Christians, 
also, were slain. Polycarp was martyred 
155 A. D. The venerable man was urged to 
revile Christ and save his life, whereupon he 
answered, " Fourscore and six years I have 
served him, and he never did me wrong; 
how then can I revile my King and Sav- 
ior?" Polycarp was a disciple of John. 

2. From Marcus Aurelius to Decius (161- 
249). These persecutions were more general 
and were authorized by imperial decrees. 
Marcus Aurelius (161-180) was a Stoic phi- 
losopher, who should have become the first 
Christian emperor. But he did not under- 
stand the Christians, and considered their 
heroism as mere fanaticism. Earthquakes, 

32 



PERSECUTIONS 

famines, and calamities aroused the people 
against the Christians. In Lyons and Vi- 
anna, in Southern Gaul, the Christians were 
tortured, persecuted and cruelly slain. Jus- 
tin Martyr was killed in Rome 165 A. D. 

3. From Decius to Constantine (249-311). 
These persecutions were universal, violent, 
inhuman. Their purpose was to stamp out 
Christianity. In 248 A. D. was the one 
thousandth anniversary of the founding of 
Rome (752 B. C. to 248 A. D.). Rome cele- 
brated this millennium, with a view to re- 
gain " Rome's lost glory." To do this, they 
thought they must revive the ancient reli- 
gion. Hence Decius made a decree (250) 
that upon a certain day, over the entire Ro- 
man Empire, every person must appear be- 
fore the magistrates and sacrifice to the 
gods. Many Christians lapsed and hun- 
dreds won the martyr's crown. In 257 
Valerian issued an edict, commanding all 
Christians to conform to the State religion 
on pain of banishment. In 258 another edict 
was issued, more sanguinary than any pre- 
vious one. Cyprian of Carthage and Sex- 
tus of Rome became martyrs at this time. 
Origen (d. 253) also died from the tortures 
of persecution. In 303 an edict was every- 

33 



APOSTOLIC AGE TO CONSTANTINE 

where published, commanding that churches 
be burned, the Scriptures destroyed, and 
the Christians be degraded and deprived of 
their freedom. Soon followed another edict, 
demanding that all Church officials be put in 
prison and be compelled to sacrifice to the 
gods. Many Christians delivered up their 
Scriptures to be burned, to avoid persecu- 
tion. They were called traditores. In 313 
was issued the Edict of Milan, granting re- 
ligious freedom to the Christians. It also 
restored the property and civil rights of 
which they had been deprived. 

III. OTHER ENEMIES FROM WITH- 
OUT. 

1. Cynicism and Ridicule. Probably dur- 
ing the reign of Marcus Aurelius (170) Cel- 
sus wrote a book entitled " True Dis- 
course " (a\r)6r)s Aoyo?), in which he challenges 
every vital point in Christianity. His hatred 
for Jesus knows no bounds. He attempts to 
reduce all of Christianity to fanaticism and 
myth. Hardly a single argument has ever 
been raised against the Christian faith that 
is not found in Celsus. 

2. Lucian (130-200) of Samosata, in 

Syria, ridiculed and mocked th? Christians 

34 



ENEMIES WITHIN THE CHURCH 

and their God. In fact, he ridiculed all re- 
ligion as superstition, but especially direct- 
ed his mockery and sarcasm against the 
Christians. 

3. Neo-Platonism. Neo-Platonism did 
not directly oppose Christianity, but tried 
to supplant it or replace it by an eclectic 
philosophy. SchafI says, " Neo-Platonism 
was a direct attempt of the more intelligent 
and earnest heathenism to rally all its no- 
bler energies, especially the forces of Hel- 
lenic philosophy and Oriental mysticism, 
and to found a universal religion, a pagan 
counterpart to the Christian." Contempla- 
tion and intuition rather than speculation 
were the way to redemption. It contained 
magic and divination. Ammonius Saccas 
(d. 243) was the founder of Neo-Platonism. 
Plotinus (d. 270) and Porphyry (d. 304) 
were its greatest advocates. This hostile 
literature and the persecutions forced the 
Christians to give reason for their faith, and 
therefore they wrote the "Apologies," or 
defenses of Christendom. 

IV. ENEMIES OR HERESIES WITHIN 
THE CHURCH. 

1. The Ebionites (meaning of word is 
"the poor"). Already in Paul's day there 

35 



APOSTOLIC AGE TO CONSTANTINE 

were Judaizing Christians, who held that 
the Gentiles must first become Jews (Epis- 
tle to the Galatians). The Ebionites were 
Jewish Christians who denied the divinity 
of Christ and held tenaciously to the Mo- 
saic Law. They rejected Paul and held to 
James and Peter. The earlier Ebionites 
were Ascetic and exalted virginity. Later 
ones, in opposition to Gnosticism, married. 
2. Gnosticism (knowledge, cf. 1 Tim. 6: 
20; 1 Cor. 8:1). Gnosticism was a specula- 
tive philosophy in the Church, which put 
knowledge (gnosis) above faith. This gno- 
sis was a system of thought, a knowledge of 
the mysteries which was considered the 
acme of religion. It may be summed as 
follows (cf. Moeller, vol. 1, p. 152) : (1) 
Christianity is a practical doctrine of sal- 
vation; Gnosticism, a speculative philoso- 
phy, a world view, or knowledge of a world- 
process, for the redemption of the spirit. 
(2) Gnosticism degrades the Old Testa- 
ment, holding that Jehovah who created 
this world (which is evil) is an evil God 
and not the Supreme Being whom Christ, 
the Logos, revealed. (3) Christian redemp- 
tion is victory over the world; Gnosticism 
is separation of the spirit from matter. 

36 



ENEMIES WITHIN THE CHURCH 

(4) The dualism of experience is transferred 
from the ethical to the physical realm. Cf. 
Paul's flesh and spirit, which is purely eth- 
ical. (5) Gnosticism explained the creation 
by the doctrine of emanations or aeons 
which went forth from God. The farthest 
from God was the most degraded, which 
was evil enough to create this evil world. 
This last aeon is called a demiurge (Jeho- 
vah of Old Testament). (6) The New 
Testament distinction between spiritual and 
carnal (pneumatic and hylic) was the same 
as gnosis and pistis (knowledge and faith). 
(7) Gnosticism denied the resurrection and 
the second coming of Jesus. Jesus was 
" Docetic." (8) The dualism of spirit and 
sense led either to Asceticism or Libertin- 
ism. 

3. Manichaeism. This heresy was orig- 
inated by Mani, in Persia, about 238 A. D. 
It is a combination of Gnosticism, with a 
minimum of Christianity, and Zoroastrian- 
ism, Old Babylonian philosophies, and other 
mystic and magical elements. It is based 
on dualism, the " Kingdom of Light," and 
the " Kingdom of Darkness." Man is 
" light imprisoned in darkness." They 
wholly rejected the Old Testament and ex- 

37 



APOSTOLIC AGE TO CONSTANTINE 

plained the remainder in the light of this 
dualistic philosophy. They had an elaborate 
organization, and the " elevated priesthood 
celebrated the secret rites of baptism and 
communion with solemn pomp, lived as 
ascetics, possessed no property, and ab- 
stained from wine and animal food. ,, 

4. Monarchians. The Monarchians de- 
nied the doctrine of the Trinity. There were 
two principal classes of Monarchians. (1) 
Dynamic — that Jesus was a mere Man, but 
energized by the Holy Spirit at baptism 
when he received the divine attributes. This 
was first proclaimed by Theodotus, 190 A. 
D., in Rome. Paul of Samosata taught 
(260) that God is one Person. Jesus was a 
divinely-begotten Man, not the Logos, 
Word (John 1: 1 and 6), but raised to dig- 
nity and glory by the Logos. (2) Modal- 
istic Monarchianism. Sabellius is the most 
famous teacher of this doctrine. God the 
Father is the Source or Energy of all. The 
Son is the Father as Redeemer or Savior; 
the Holy Spirit is the Father giving holiness 
to men. Hence the Son and Holy Spirit 
are only modes or activities of the one God. 

38 



REFORM MOVEMENTS 

V. REFORM MOVEMENTS WITHIN 
THE CHURCH. 

The following were Puritanic and Re- 
formatory : 

1. Montanism. Montanus, with several 
women, Priscilla and Maximilla, from Pe- 
puza, Phrygia, claimed to have received 
new revelations from the Paraclete (Holy 
Spirit) . See John 14 : 16, 26 ; 15 : 26. These 
Montanists, believing they had the Para- 
clete, were not bound by the Scriptures. 
They tried to purify the Church, hence were 
very rigorous and legalistic. They distin- 
guished between mortal sins, which the 
Church could not forgive, and venial sins, 
which could be forgiven. Of the former, 
they held the following: homicide, idolatry, 
fraud, denial of the faith, blasphemy, adul- 
tery and fornication. They were ascetic and 
expected the speedy end of the world. 

2. Novatianism. This was legalistic 
Montanism striving to purify the Church by 
discipline. During the Decian persecution 
(250 A. D.) many Christians lapsed. After 
the persecutions, many of these came back 
into the Church. There were two parties: 
(1) Those who were lenient and accepted 
them easily and readily, and (2) the follow- 

39 



APOSTOLIC AGE TO CONSTANTINE 

ers of Novatian, who demanded rebaptism 
for readmission into the Church. These 
Novatians believed in baptismal regenera- 
tion and demanded that baptism be admin- 
istered by the proper person. They separ- 
ated from the Church and continued for 
awhile. 

3. Donatism. During the persecutions of 
303-305 many Christians gave up their 
Scriptures to be burned to avoid suffering. 
These traditores also asked admission into 
the Church after the Edict of Milan (311) 
forever put an end to persecutions. Dona- 
tus of North Africa was the leader of the 
opposition demanding the Novatian princi- 
ple of rebaptism by a proper person, and 
also holding that no man can hold office 
who lapsed during the persecutions. The 
Donatists appealed to Constantine in their 
troubles, but he decided against them. 
Hereafter they strongly urged the doctrine 
of the separation of the Church and State. 
These Donatists became legalistic reaction- 
aries and retarded rather than furthered the 
cause of Christ. 

VI. LITERATURE. 

1. Literature for Edification. These are 
utterances, epistles and writings by the 

40 



LITERATURE 

apostolic fathers, which show us the piety 
and faith of their day. 

(1) First Epistle of Clement to the Church 
at Corinth. Clement was bishop at Rome 
and wrote this epistle between 93 and 97 
A. D. Clement gives wholesome advice to 
the Corinthian Church, how to settle their 
difficulties, and admonishes them to humil- 
ity. He quotes freely from the Old Testa- 
ment, which is the Scriptures of the Chris- 
tians. 

(2) Epistle of Barnabas. This is not the 
Barnabas who labored with Paul. The most 
probable date is 130-131 A. D. (Harnack.) 
This epistle uses the Old Testament alle- 
gorically to prove the truths of Christianity, 
as against the Jews, who reject Christian- 
ity because they never understood their own 
revelation, i. e., the Old Testament. 

(3) The Epistles of Ignatius. Ignatius 
was Bishop of Antioch, had been a pupil of 
John, and was torn to pieces by the lions 
at Rome December 20, to amuse the Ro- 
mans. The year is not known, either 107 
A. D. or 115 A. D. Ignatius in his epistles 
exhorts the churches to be obedient to their 
bishops and presbyters. He wrote letters 
to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, 

41 



APOSTOLIC AGE TO CONSTANTINE 

Romans, Philadelphians, Smyrnaeans, and 
to Polycarp. 

(4) The Shepherd of Hermas. Hermas 
was a pastor of the Roman Church about 
129-140 A. D. His book is divided into 
three parts: (a) Five Visions, (b) Twelve 
Commands, (c) Ten Similitudes. It was 
widely read and is sometimes called " The 
Pilgrim's Progress " of the Early Church. 

(5) Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians. 
Polycarp was Bishop of Smyrna, and suf- 
fered martyrdom Feb. 23, 155 A. D. Poly- 
carp in this epistle strengthens the faith of 
the Philippians by directing them to the 
gospel literature. 

(6) The Didache (the Teaching of the 
Twelve Apostles). This is generally be- 
lieved to have been written after the Apos- 
tolic Age, 100-150 A. D. The first part of 
the Didache treats of the " Two Ways," 
which was instructions to converts before 
baptism. The second part treats of bap- 
tism, fasts, Lord's supper, and the officers 
of the Church. It closes with an exhorta- 
tion in which the " Second Coming " is re- 
ferred to. 

2. The Apologetic Period. The persecu- 
tions brought forth defenses or apologies on 

42 



LITERATURE 

the part of the Christians. The apologists 
are Quadratus, Aristides, Justin, Tatian, 
Athenagoras, Theophilus, Hermias and Me- 
lito. These apologies were written, not to 
compel others to accept Christianity, but to 
convince them that Christianity had a right 
to exist. The most important of these 
apologies were addressed to the Emperors 
Antonius Pius and Marcus Aurelius. The 
Christians were charged with atheism, li- 
centiousness, and cannibalism; atheism, be- 
cause the Christians rejected the Roman 
gods and the heathen could not conceive of 
the Christian's God as Spirit. The charge of 
licentiousness was due to the fact that the 
Christians met at night for worship, and be- 
cause they manifested strong brotherly af- 
fections for each other. The apologists 
show that for the Christians even a licen- 
tious thought is sin. Cannibalism grew out 
of the eucharist, wherein the Christians 
symbolically partook of the body and blood 
of Christ. The apologists again showed 
that for the Christians, murder was the 
most heinous of sins. 

Furthermore, the apologists showed that 
Christianity was not a new religion, but the 
oldest in the world. Moses wrote the Pen- 

43 



APOSTOLIC AGE TO CONSTANTINE 

tateuch, says Justin, before the Trojan War. 
They draw most of their arguments from 
prophecy and fulfillment, miracles, and the 
transforming power of the Gospel of Christ. 
Justin, the Martyr, was the greatest apolo- 
gist. 

3. Polemical Literature. Heresies within 
the Church (see §§ IV and V) brought 
forth polemics. Their purpose was to de- 
feat and correct the errors that were rapidly 
spreading within the Church. Now the 
New Testament is quoted as authority. The 
apologists used the Old Testament. Since 
" authority " is demanded to meet these 
errors, the idea, for the first time, of an 
orthodox Catholic Church, comes to view. 

(1) Irenseus (b. 130-135 A. D.) of Asia 
Minor, a pupil of Polycarp, and well edu- 
cated in the classics, was one of the ablest 
writers against " Heresies." He became 
pastor at Lyons, France (177). About the 
year 185 he wrote his " Five Books Against 
Heresies." 

(2) Hippolytus flourished about 222-235 
at Rome. He wrote " Reputation of All 
Heresies." 

(3) Tertullian (b. 150-160) was a native 
of Carthage, North Africa. He was a well- 

44 



LITERATURE 

educated lawyer, and the founder of Latin 
theology. Tertullian was a voluminous 
writer, and not only wrote against all kinds 
of heresies, but upon nearly every subject 
in theology. He died about 220 A. D. 

(4) Cyprian (b. 200) suffered martyrdom 
(258) under Valerian. Cyprian did most to 
create and develop the doctrine of the Cath- 
olic Church. 

(5) Theological Literature (Alexandrian 
School) . Alexandria was the seat of specu- 
lative philosophy, and here first was the at- 
tempt made to make a " systematic exposi- 
tion of Christianity as a whole." The al- 
legorical method of interpreting Scriptures 
was reduced to a system. 

(6) Clement of Alexandria (b. 160) was 
probably born at Athens. He succeeded 
Pantaenus as teacher of the Catechetical 
School at Alexandria about 190 A. D., and 
continued till 202, when persecution drove 
him away. Clement was profoundly specu- 
lative and brought the Greek philosophy to 
Christian thought. 

(7) Origen. Born about 185, of Christian 
parents, was unusually pious, lived an as- 
cetic life and was with difficulty restrained 
from offering himself as a martyr in 202, 

45 



APOSTOLIC AGE TO CONSTANTINE 

when his father, Leonides, suffered that 
fate. In 203 Origen became teacher of the 
catechetical school. He was a great student 
of philosophy and leaned heavily toward 
gnosticism, but was stayed by the historical 
foundations of Christianity. He was tor- 
tured during the Decian persecution, and 
died 258. His writings are on : (a) Critical, 
Exegetical, and Edificatory Works on the 
Bible, (b) Apologetics. (c) Dogmatics, 
(d) Practical Works, (e) Theology, (f) 
Concerning God. (g) The Son. (h) Holy 
Spirit, (i) Anthropology. (j) Baptism, 
(k) Eschatology. 

VII. THE CANON. 

The heresies within the Church, especial- 
ly gnosticism, forced the Christians to a rule 
(canon) of authority. Hence they sought 
for the true writings of the apostles. A 
great flood of literature was read in the 
churches, which was attributed to the apos- 
tles. The process of determining which are 
the true and worthy books lasted from 
about 140 A. D. to 395 A. D., although by 
the end of our period (313) the canon was 
practically determined. 

i 46 



RISE OF CATHOLIC CHURCH 

VIII. THE RISE OF THE CATHOLIC 
CHURCH. 

1. Dogma. (1) At first religion was an 
inner experience — Christ in the heart. It 
was personal, — the theology of the Good 
Shepherd. (2) As the Church entered 
Greek and Roman territory and became pre- 
vailingly Gentile, in conflict with heathen- 
ism, religion becomes more and more a 
matter of creeds, statements and definitions 
of truth. Where the real experience lacked, 
men sought authority in creeds and defini- 
tions. (3) The next development was a 
basis for the second grade, demanding an 
" authoritative channel " for the truth. 
Hence the Church and bishops guaranteed 
the authority of the religious life. This 
change, making the authority external in- 
stead of inner experience, is the essence of 
the Roman Church. 

2. Centralization. During the Apostolic 
Age presbyters (elders) and bishops were 
of equal rank, or were the same persons. 
Furthermore, there were several or many of 
these in each local church. Now the bishop 
is one and exercises authority over all the 
others. This change was furthered by (1) 
following the example of the Roman Gov- 

47 



APOSTOLIC AGE TO CONSTANTINE 

ernment, which was a model of perfection 
to all Gentile converts, and (2) the need 
for organization and concentration through 
persecutions and missionary endeavors. 
This developed the pope. 

IX. CHURCH EXTENSION. 

" The Christians numbered 500 in 30 A. 
D., grew to 500,000 by 100 A. D., and in- 
creased to 30,000,000 by 311 A. D." (Flick, 
"The Rise of the Mediaeval Church," p. 
54.) Christianity (313) extended from 
Britain to India and Mesopotamia. Chris- 
tians abounded in all the countries and 
cities bordering the Mediterranean. It be- 
gan with a few poor peasants, and now 
counted among its numbers the educated, 
the influential and finally the Roman Em- 
peror, Constantine. " In general, we may 
characterize the present period as the period 
of the gradual growth and the gradual cor- 
ruption of Christianity until it became 
strong enough, on the one hand, to make 
its adoption by the empire a matter of pol- 
icy, and corrupt enough, on the other, to 
rejoice in such adoption." (Newman, vol. 
1, page 148.) 

48 



CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORSHIP 
X. CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORSHIP. 

To do justice to the Christians, their 
morals should be compared with the pagan 
life from which they came. Language can 
hardly express the vice, superstition, deg- 
radation, slavery, hopelessness, and general 
wickedness of the pagans. The Christians, 
in contrast, sanctified the home, lived chaste 
lives, pledged themselves not to steal, kill, 
nor harm others, and they were hopeful and 
optimistic in facing calamities and death. 

However, the pagans coming into the 
Church in large numbers, could not be 
quickly or completely reformed. They 
brought with them into the Church much 
of their heathen superstition, their vices 
and views of life. Worship became more 
ritualistic. Sacerdotalism took the place of 
spirituality. The priest displaced the proph- 
et ; formalism prevailed instead of morality ; 
and the ordinances were supposed to have 
magical powers for the propitiation of God, 
rather than symbols for man to repent. 

Baptism was mostly by triune immersion 
in running water, for believers only, but in- 
fant baptism crept in through this magical 
idea of the rite. The Didache (130) speaks 
thus of Baptism : " Now concerning baptism, 

49 



APOSTOLIC AGE TO CONSTANTINE 

baptize in the following manner: Having 
said all these things before [the instruc- 
tions] baptize into the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost in 
living [running] water. But if you do not 
have living water baptize into other water; 
and if you are not able to baptize in cold 
[baptize], in warm. But if you have neither, 
then pour upon the head water three times 
into the name of Father, and Son, and Holy 
Spirit." (Translation my own.) 

The agape (love feast) was held with and 
sometimes separate from the " Lord's sup- 
per " (bread and wine). Many abuses crept 
in. 

Church festivals increased in number and 
retained much of the heathen element. 
Easter and Christmas became important 
days; so also Pentecost. Sunday instead of 
Sabbath was the day of worship. 

The symbolism of the catacombs shows 
the better side of the triumphant faith and 
hope of the true Church of Christ. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What was the character of the Roman em- 
perors of this period? Of Roman society? 

2. Name the three periods of persecution. 
What were some of the causes of persecution? 
Name several prominent martyrs. What was the 
Edict of Milan? 

50 



QUESTIONS 

3. Who was Celsus? Lucian? How did Neo- 
Platonism hinder Christianity? 

4. Which is the worse, enemies without, or 
within the Church? Name the heresies of the 
Church. Who were the Ebionites? Name three 
points of Gnosticism. Where did Manichalism 
come from? Describe Sabellianism. 

5. Name the reform movements in the Church. 
Can the Church be reformed by discipline from 
without? 

6. Name the four kinds of literature of this 
period. Describe each kind. Name two writers 
of each period. 

7. What is the canon? When was it completed? 
What causes led the Church to select some and 
reject other books for the rule of faith? 

8. Name several causes that led to the forma- 
tion of a highly-organized Church. 

9. Describe the growth of Christendom. What 
was the result of this phenomenal growth? 

10. How did the morals of the Christians com- 
pare with the heathen? What effect did the 
heathen converts have upon the Church? How 
did this heathenism affect the worship of the 
Church? 



51 



CHAPTER III. 

From Constantine to Gregory I. 
313 to 590 A. D. 

I. POLITICS. 

1. In 312 A. D. Constantine gained his 
victory over Maxentius. Before the battle, 
it is said, he saw a vision of the cross or 
the Labarum with the words, " In this con- 
quer." He promised the Lord to become a 
Christian if he conquered. In 313 he, with 
his associate, Licinus, his brother-in-law, 
issued the Edict of Milan, which gave Chris- 
tianity a legal right to exist, and also re- 
stored to the Christians their confiscated 
property. In 323 Constantine gained a vic- 
tory over Licinus and thereby became sole 
ruler. 

Constantine was a converted heathen, and 
emperor over pagans as well as Christians. 
His life does not come up to the Christian 
standard; nevertheless his sympathies were 
Christian, which is best shown in the 
changed laws. 

" He abolished the punishment of cruci- 

53 



CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY I. 

fixion. He exerted himself to prevent the 
practice of exposing or murdering newborn 
infants. His laws against unchastity were 
very strict. In 316 he forbade the practice 
of branding criminals on their face. In 
320 the laws against celibacy, enacted to 
promote the Roman birth rate, were re- 
laxed to favor the Christians, who wished 
to live an ascetic life. In 321 all legal busi- 
ness was forbidden on Sundays. The bish- 
ops were allowed important legal preroga- 
tives and to hold their own courts, and 
their decisions were ratified by a positive 
law." (Pullan, "The Church of the Fa- 
thers," p. 230.) 

2. Constantine Made his Capital of the 

empire at Byzantium (326), which now be- 
came Constantinople. This left the Bishop 
of Rome the most important official in the 
Eternal City, and promoted the primacy of 
Rome that ultimately developed into the 
papacy. 

3. During This Period we have the Bar- 
barian invasions. The Roman Empire was 
weakened by centuries of vice and luxury, 
while the Barbarians to the north grew 
stronger and more oppressive. The Huns 
were driving the Goths, and now these 

54 



POLITICS 

Teutons crossed the Danube and entered 
Italy. Alaric invaded Greece and was de- 
feated 402-403 A. D. In 406 an army of 
from 200,000 to 400,000 of these German 
tribes was defeated by Stilicho near Flor- 
ence. In 409 Alaric came to Rome and was 
paid a ransom. In 410 a larger army under 
Alaric entered Rome and sacked the city, 
but spared the lives of the people and Chris- 
tian temples. In 451 Attila, the Hun, was 
defeated at Chalons (France). In 452 he 
threatened Rome, and was pacified by the 
Roman bishop and his embassy. In 455 the 
Vandals sacked Rome. They had already 
plundered North Africa. 

4. Fall of the Roman Empire in the West 
(476). From the year 395 on there were 
two emperors, one in the East (Constanti- 
nople) and one in the West (Rome). In 475 
Romulus Augustulus, a child of six, became 
emperor at Rome. Odoacer, leader of a 
tribe of Germans, dethroned him and be- 
came " Patrician " of Italy. Zeno, at Con- 
stantinople was emperor alone, and hence- 
forth there was but one emperor until the 
restoration of the West under Charles the 
Great, 800 A. D. Again the Roman bishop 
was the most important personage at Rome 
for hundreds of years. 

55 



CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY I. 
II. CHURCH AND STATE. 

The Church and State became one. The 
emperor freed and defended the Church and 
therefore claimed the right to rule it. The 
bishops, for a long time held in special 
honor, became more haughty since the 
Church came into universal favor and 
power. " But whatever respect the em- 
perors might pay to the Church and its of- 
ficers, they had in fact immense influence 
over it from the time when the emperors 
became Christians, says Socrates. The af- 
fairs of the Church depended upon them. It 
could hardly be otherwise. Privileges were 
conferred by law upon the Catholic Church 
alone, and occasions unfortunately soon 
arose when it was necessary for the emper- 
or to say which of two contending parties 
he considered Catholic. If the defeated 
party asked what the emperor had to do 
with the Church, the victors replied, that 
the Church was in the State and that none 
was over the emperor but God. The fathers 
at Constantinople, in the year 448, when an 
imperial rescript had been read, cried out, 
' Long live our high priest the emperor.' 
Edicts issued by the emperor were pub- 
lished in the churches. And as the emperor, 

56 



THEOLOGY AND THEOLOGIANS 

by influence or direct nomination, secured 
the election of many bishops, especially of 
those of Constantinople, the Episcopal or- 
der was generally disposed to do him hom- 
age. Justinian showed much favor to the 
Church, but at the same time he made it 
more directly subject to the State." (Cheet- 
ham, " Church History, Early Period," p. 
173.) 

III. THEOLOGY AND THEOLOGIANS. 

" We find everywhere two great princi- 
ples of human nature in perpetual conflict. 
On the one hand, respect for authority, 
dread of change, desire to maintain the 
state of things in which each man finds him- 
self. On the other, more reliance on the 
powers which God has given man, more 
hopefulness, more readiness to leave the 
things which are behind and to press for- 
ward to those which are before. To speak 
generally, we may say that the Latin Church 
took the conservative side, the Greek that 
of free discussion and inquiry." (Cheetham, 
p. 215.) This difference in human nature 
produces schools of thought. We have in 
this period the schools of Antioch, Alex- 
andria and the West. 

57 



CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY I. 

1. Antioch. The theologians of Antioch 
insisted upon the necessity of grammatical 
and historical exposition of the Scriptures. 
John Chrysostom (347-407) was probably 
the greatest of this school. Also Eusebius 
of Emesa, Cyril of Jerusalem (350-386), 
Theodore of Mopsuestia (393-428), and 
Theodoret (390-457). 

2. Alexandria. The Alexandrian school 
was speculative rather than exegetical. In 
the theological controversies of this period 
the Alexandrians emphasized the divinity 
of Christ more than his humanity, while 
the Antiochenes held firmly to his humanity. 
The important men of this school were 
Eusebius of Csesarea (270-341), the father 
of Church history; Athanasius (246-373), 
the champion of orthodoxy against Arius; 
Epiphanius (315-403), the three Cappado- 
cians, Basil (330-379), Gregory Nazianzen 
(325-389) and Gregory of Nyssa (335-395). 

3. The West. The theologians of the 
West were supremely practical, interested 
in church organization, missions, and get- 
ting things done. " The spirit of the old 
empire passed into the Latin Church." The 
Great Men of the West were Hilary of Poi- 
tiers (320-366), Ambrose (340-397), Jerome 

58 



DOCTRINAL CONTROVERSIES 

(346-420), Rufinus (345-410), and Augustine 
(354-430). (Moncrief, p. 124.) 

IV. DOCTRINAL CONTROVERSIES. 

The Trinity; Arius. Constantine had 
scarcely legalized the Church until he found 
it torn by factions. First the Donatists in 
Africa, then the Arian controversy. Arius 
was a presbyter at Alexandria who held 
heretical views. He said: (1) The Son is a 
creation out of nothing by the will of God 
the Father. (2) A Divine Being, created 
before the worlds, but still a creature. (3) 
As a father must exist before his Son, so the 
Son of God is not coeternal with the Fa- 
ther. (4) There was, when he (the Son) 
was not. (5) It was through him that God 
made the world. (6) Yet he is not in his 
proper nature incapable of sin. (7) How- 
ever, by exertion of his own will, he was 
preserved from it. (Cheetham, p. 256.) 

Bishop Alexander of Alexandria asserted 
the coexistence of God the Father and God 
the Son from all eternity. There never was 
a time when God was not Father, and the 
Son was not the Son. Arius thought Alex- 
ander was a Sabellian, and he wanted to 
preserve the Trinity, but really destroyed 
the Trinity by making Christ neither divine 

59 



CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY I. 

nor human. Constantine sent Hosius with 
a letter to Alexandria, asking them to set- 
tle the dispute, but without avail. The em- 
peror then called the Council of Nicaea (see 
description of this council in Stanley, East- 
ern Church), 325 A. D., where 318 bishops 
assembled to decide the dispute. The em- 
peror himself presided over the council. 
Athenasius of Alexandria was the opponent 
of Arius and the victor at the council. The 
following creed was adopted : " We believe 
in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of 
all things visible and invisible, and in one 
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten 
of the Father, the only-begotten; that is 
of the essence of the Father, God of God, 
Light of Light, very God of very God, be- 
gotten, not made, being of one substance 
(Homoousios) with the Father; by whom 
all things were made, both in heaven and on 
earth; who for us men, and for our salva- 
tion, came down and was incarnate and was 
made man; he suffered and the third day 
he rose again, ascended into heaven; from 
thence he shall come to judge the quick and 
the dead. And in the Holy Ghost." 

" But those who say * There was a time 
when he was not ' ; and ' He was not before 

60 



DOCTRINAL CONTROVERSIES 

he was made ' ; and ' He was made out of 
nothing/ or * He is of another substance or 
essence/ or ' The Son of God is created/ or 
' changeable/ or ' alterable/ — they are con- 
demned by the holy Catholic and Apostolic 
Church. ,, (Schaff's "Creeds of Christen- 
dom/' vol. I, p. 28f.) 

V. DOCTRINAL CONTROVERSIES— 
CHRISTOLOGY. 

The Council of Nicasa settled the doctrine 
of the Trinity, and also declared the perfect 
divinity and perfect humanity of Christ. 
From now on the problem is, how are these 
two natures combined? — the problem of 
Christology. 

1. Apollinarius, Bishop of Laodicea, ex- 
plained the problem in this way: Man is 
body, soul and spirit. The Logos (Word, 
John 1 : 14) took the place of the " Spirit " 
in man. The Council of Constantinople 
(381) condemned his views and reasserted 
and extended the Nicene Creed. 

2. Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, 
objected to the word " Theotokos," " moth- 
er of God," referring to Mary, in the confes- 
sions of the day. Nestorius held that Mary 
was not the " mother of God," but Christo- 
tokos, " mother of Christ." A council at 

61 



CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY I. 

Ephesus (431) condemned Nestorius. Cyril 
of Alexandria was the champion of this 
council. 

3. Eutyches, Abbot of Constantinople, in 
448 put forth the theory that Christ had 
only one nature. That is, the human nature 
was absorbed by the Divine, as a drop of 
honey would be absorbed by the ocean. A 
council of Eutychians met at Ephesus in 
449, where they carried the day by chicanery 
and force. The bishops fought with fists 
and clubs. The Bishop of Constantinople 
was killed. The (Ecumenical Council of 
Chalcedon (451) condemned Eutychianism 
and adopted the Chalcedonian Creed. 

4. Monophysitism (one nature). Imme- 
diately after the Council of Chalcedon, the 
one-nature idea continued. It now took a 
slightly different form. Eutyches said that 
the human nature was absorbed by the 
divine. The theory now is that the two 
natures were fused together into a new na- 
ture — a tertium quid, a third thing. " He 
was of two natures; he was not in two na- 
tures." This heresy denied both his hu- 
manity and divinity. The second Council 
of Constantinople (553) condemned Mono- 
physitism. 

62 



DOCTRINAL CONTROVERSIES 

VI. DOCTRINAL CONTROVERSIES- 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 

The Pelagian Controversy. Augustine, 
the greatest of the Church fathers (354- 
430), had a remarkable conversion from a 
life of sin. His own experience, naturally, 
colored his theology. He taught, " Man 
freely fell in Adam, and in the fall lost his 
ability, and was utterly undone — became a 
mass of perdition; he is saved by grace 
alone, without any cooperation on his own 
part ; through grace his freedom is restored, 
and again he is in harmony with the Spirit of 
God; but God, for good and sufficient rea- 
sons, willed to save some but not all of the 
fallen race; salvation outside the visible 
Church is impossible/' (Moncrief, p. 143.) 

Pelagius, on the other hand, had no re- 
markable conversion, did not feel the total 
depravity and helplessness of man, and em- 
phasized free will. " In the system of Pela- 
gius men were made mortal. They did not 
become such by Adam's sin. As far as they 
are sinners it is by doing as Adam did. All 
good or evil is something done by us, for 
we are capable of either. There is at our 
birth nothing within us but what God placed 
there. The supposition of sin in infants be- 

63 



CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY I. 

fore the exercise of reason, prior to the 
* election ' [choice] of evil, is monstrous." 
(Fisher, "History of Doctrine," p. 190.) 
This Augustine-Pelagian controversy has 
continued through the centuries, and has 
affected all classes in the Church. 

VII. CHURCH EXTENSION. 

1. Ulfilas, born of Greek and Gothic par- 
ents (311), was taught Arian Christianity, 
made bishop 341 by Eusebius, and worked 
among the Goths till his death in 383. He 
was called the " Moses " of his people. 
Largely through his labors all the Germanic 
tribes became Arian Christians. His great 
work was the translation of the Bible into 
Gothic, having invented a Gothic alphabet 
for the purpose. 

2. Conversion of the Franks. In 496 Clo- 
vis, King of the Franks, was converted to 
Catholic Christianity. His whole army was 
baptized also by immersion. In 589 Re- 
carred, King of the Visigoths of Spain, also 
became a Catholic. 

3. St. Martin of Tours (d. 397), the sol- 
dier-bishop, worked mostly in central 
France and won crowds of converts. 

4. St. Patrick, born about 400 A. D., was 
a Briton. He was captured by pirates and 

64 



CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORSHIP 

taken to Ireland, where he served seven 
years as a slave. Having escaped he went 
to Gaul, where he was made a presbyter 
and bishop. He returned to Ireland, and 
by his persuasive personality, his executive 
ability and missionary zeal, converted Ire- 
land to Christianity, and founded the first 
Christian school at Armagh. 

5. Columba (b. 521) was born in Ireland, 
expelled, then went as missionary among 
the Picts of Scotland, where he did a great 
work. 

6. Columban, born (543) in Bangor, Ire- 
land, did splendid missionary work in Bur- 
gundy, Switzerland, and Northern Italy. 
He was one of the most capable men of his 
day. 

VIII. CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WOR- 
SHIP. 

•The Church was growing in power, but 
losing in spirituality. The Christian em- 
perors, indeed, made better laws, and en- 
forced many reformations. But when virtue 
is enforced by law it ceases to be virtue, but 
mere formal conduct. The Sunday was es- 
tablished by law, and became a festival; 
Christianity was made popular, and hordes 
of unregenerate pagans entered the Church ; 

65 



CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY I. 

Church union destroyed freedom of thought ; 
favors to the bishops made them proud and 
worldly. 

Christianity was secularized, and became 
extremely worldly and corrupt. The pagans 
worshiped many gods; now they worship 
the saints and martyrs. Formerly they 
worshiped idols ; now they worship images. 
Once the pagans persecuted the Christians; 
now as Christians they persecute the pa- 
gans and one another. As pagans they sacri- 
ficed to propitiate the angry gods ; now they 
use the symbols (baptism, Lord's supper, 
etc.) as magical sacraments to propitiate 
God. Religion became formal, sacerdotal, 
ecclesiastical. 

Many noble souls, who studied their Bi- 
bles and drank from the pure Fountain of 
Life and Light, revolted against the world- 
liness and corruption of the Church. The 
revolt took the form of escape from the 
world rather than attempting to transform 
conditions. Monasticism is the form in 
which individualism and piety expressed 
themselves. 

IX. MONASTICISM. 

Asceticism is nowhere taught in the New 
Testament. The contrast between flesh and 

66 



MONASTICISM 

spirit in Paul is ethical and not physical. 
But Gnosticism and Manichseism taught 
that matter as such is evil. Hence the idea 
that mortifying the flesh and enduring phys- 
ical agonies would be meritorious came to be 
generally believed. The increase of world- 
liness in the Church brought about the op- 
posite extreme — to escape from the world. 
The Ascetics spent their time in fastings 
and prayer, remained celibate, and lived 
lives of self-torture and austerities. Asceti- 
cism began to take various forms. 

L The Anchorite was a hermit who with- 
drew by himself to some desert place and 
lived an ascetic life. Anthony, born about 
351, lived in a cleft in a rock. From here he 
secluded himself yet more, where he re- 
mained twenty years. His fame spread and 
again he withdrew from men. "Anthony's 
food was bread and salt, which he never 
tasted until after sunset. He often fasted 
entirely for two or three days. He watched 
and prayed all night, sleeping only a little 
time on the ground." (Jerome.) 

2. The Coenobites were hermits who lived 
together. Usually a hermit who attained 
fame for his austerities was surrounded by 
younger hermits, who imitated him. This 

67 



CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY I. 

is the beginning of cloister life. Both the 
Anchorites and Ccenobites originated in 
Egypt, where the climate favored this life. 
Pachomius organized a society of monks on 
an island in the Nile which, during his life- 
time, reached 3,000 in number. By 400 his 
monks numbered 50,000. Their ascetic prac- 
tices may be divided into four classes: di- 
etetic, sexual, social and spiritual. Fastings, 
celibacy or continency, withdrawal from 
the world, and hundreds of prayers daily, 
characterize the early hermit monks. 

3. Western Monasticism. Benedict of 
Nursia (480-543). All the great leaders and 
fathers of the Church favored monasticism. 
Jerome, Athanasius, Augustine, Basil and 
others promoted it. " Western monasticism 
was a more practical system, an economic 
factor, a powerful missionary machine, an 
educational agency, and the pioneer of civ- 
ilization." (Flick, p. 212.) Benedict of 
Nursia was the great organizer and unifier 
of Western monasticism. " He became a 
severe Ascetic, wore a hair shirt, and a 
monk's dress of skins, rolled in beds of 
thistles to subdue the flesh, and chose to be 
ignorant and holy rather than to be educat- 
ed and wicked." He founded the monastery 

68 



MONASTICISM 

at Monte Casino, near Naples, which he or- 
ganized so perfectly that it became the 
model for all Europe. He established the 
" rule " of obedience : labor, chastity, and 
poverty. 

"At one time the Benedictines had 37,- 
000 monasteries, and altogether produced 
twenty-four popes, 200 cardinals, 4,000 
bishops, and 55,505 saints." (Flick, p. 216.) 

" In favor of monasticism it may be said 
(1) that it made strong resistance to world- 
liness; (2) it was a powerful means of at- 
tracting pagans to Christianity ; (3) in many 
instances, it promoted theological study; 
(4) it afforded a refuge and means of ref- 
ormation for those that were cast out from 
society." 

Furthermore, the monasteries kept up 
some of the ordinances and practices of the 
apostles, which the Church in general had 
neglected. Especially feet-washing. (See 
Hastings, " Encyclopedia of Religion and 
Ethics," art. feet-washing.) 

"On the other hand, (1) monasticism 
withdrew large numbers of good men from 
active service in Christ's cause; (2) it fos- 
tered spiritual pride and hypocrisy; (3) it 
filled Christendom with radically wrong 

69 



CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY I. 

ideas of religion and morality ; (4) it brutal- 
ized many men; (5) it was the most influ- 
ential factor in the development of hier- 
archy." (Newman, vol. 1, p. 319.) 

QUESTIONS. 

1. Name four political events of this period. 
Did these events affect the Church? How? 

2. What influences for good and evil did the 
union of Church and State have upon Christian- 
ity? 

3. What are the characteristics of each of the 
three schools of theologians? Name two of each 
school. 

4. What was the Arian controversy about? 
What did Arius believe? When was the Council 
of Nicaea? What was the result of the council? 

5. What is the problem of Christology? Name 
the four great councils that dealt with this prob- 
lem. What heresy was condemned at each? 

6. What was Augustine's teaching about man? 
Pelagius' ? Which do you hold? 

7. Name the great missionaries of this period. 
What special work did Ulfilas do? St. Patrick? 

8. What effect did wealth and power have upon 
the Church? How did the hordes of pagan 
Christians affect the worship? 

9. What is Asceticism? An Anchorite? The 
Coenobites? Who organized western monas- 
ticism? Describe the growth of monasticism. 
Name three favorable and three unfavorable 
criticisms of monasticism. 

70 



CHAPTER IV. 

From Gregory to Charlemagne 
590 to 814 A. D. 

I. POLITICS. 

Rome fell in 476. The Roman Emperor 
resided at Constantinople. Clovis, King of 
the Franks, died 511. The successors of 
Clovis seemed to lose in power while their 
major-domos increased in authority and 
dignity. The Carolingian line came from 
these majors. Charles Martel defeated the 
Mohammedans at Poictiers, in 732. This 
was one of the decisive battles of the 
world. His son Pepin aided the pope 
against the Lombards, who came into Italy 
(568) and took possession of the territory 
adjacent to Rome and also threatened the 
city. Having defeated the Lombards Pepin 
gave the land to the pope (752-757). Chil- 
deric III. was the nominal king and Pepin 
the major, but the latter succeeded in send- 
ing the former to a monastery and had him- 
self anointed king by Archbishop Boniface 

71 



FROM GREGORY TO CHARLEMAGNE 

(752), and later by the pope (753). Pepin 
died (768) and was succeeded by Karl or 
Charles the Great (Charlemagne), who 
reigned from 768 to 814. 

Charlemagne was one of the greatest men 
in history. He conquered, combined, and 
developed the Germanic tribes and forged 
anew the Roman Empire of the West. He 
also aided the pope against the Lombards 
and confirmed the gift of Pepin. At Christ- 
mas, in 800, while Charlemagne was kneel- 
ing in St. Peter's Church at Rome, Pope 
Leo III. placed the crown upon his head, 
as Emperor of the Roman Empire. The 
Emperor in the East was too weak to resist, 
and steadily declined until the fall of Con- 
stantinople (1453). 

II. CHURCH AND STATE. 

The gift of Pepin to the pope, and the 
pope's crowning of Charlemagne, are the 
source of endless troubles and discussions. 
It is the question of the primacy of the 
pope over secular affairs. How it was un- 
derstood in that day can easily be seen from 
Charlemagne's conduct. 

The emperor appointed the bishops and 
primates of the Church, called councils, and 

72 



GREGORY THE GREAT 

conducted not only the affairs of State, but 
Church also. 

The pope, being a landowner, soon imag- 
ined that he owned the earth, and that all 
kings and rulers were his subjects in tem- 
poral things as well as spiritual. The false 
decretals have a fabrication, stating that 
Constantine gave Italy to the pope. This 
falsehood was invented to back up the papal 
claims. 

During the reign of Charlemagne the 
emperor was supreme in civil and religious 
matters. 

III. GREGORY THE GREAT (590-604). 

Gregory was a monk of : great piety and 
zeal. He was literally forced to become 
Bishop (pope) of Rome. A great man was 
needed because the political and ecclesias- 
tical conditions were in a most demoraliz- 
ing condition. Gregory's genius turned the 
trend of affairs, which makes his reign the 
beginning of a new epoch. 

1. As Administrator " of the see of Rome 
Gregory elevated the priesthood, purified 
the Church, and spiritualized religion. Re- 
ligion in the sixth century was at a low ebb, 
and Gregory did much to better conditions. 

2. As Patriarch of the West he man- 

73 



FROM GREGORY TO CHARLEMAGNE 

aged the religious life in Italy, Gaul, Spain, 
Africa and Britain. He promoted great 
missionary activities, and unified and sys- 
tematized the Church. 

3. As Temporal Ruler, Gregory, by force 
of necessity, directed the civil affairs of 
Rome, saved the city from the Lombards, 
made a treaty of peace with them and finally 
brought about their conversion. The Roman 
Emperor Maurice resided at Constantinople, 
and the Exarch at Ravenna neglected Rome, 
which was constantly harassed by the Lom- 
bards, who came into Italy in 567. 

IV. CHURCH EXTENSION- 
MISSIONS. 
1. England. The Gospel was carried to 
England very early and an independent 
Church grew up there. In 596 Gregory sent 
his friend Augustine, with forty compan- 
ions, to Britain. They were well received 
by King Ethelbert, whose queen, Bertha, 
was a Catholic. The Catholic faith in- 
creased until the Council of Whitby (664), 
when the whole Anglo-Saxon Church in 
Britain became Catholic. The Venerable 
Bede (672-735) was one of the best fruits 
of England missions, and one of the ablest 
scholars of his day. 

74 



CHURCH EXTENSIONS— MISSIONS 

2. Germany. Columbanus, the Irish 
monk, labored in Burgundy and Switzer- 
land (590-615). Gallus, the founder of the 
monastery of St. Gall, in Switzerland, a 
coworker with Columbanus, did most to 
convert the Swiss and Swabians (590-640). 
The great missionary to the Germans was 
Boniface (Winfried) (680-755), from Dev- 
onshire, England, the apostle to Thuringia. 
He also labored among the Hessians, Sax- 
ons, and Bavarians. He made several jour- 
neys to Rome (719, 723), whereupon he was 
made missionary bishop, through which he 
brought all Germany under the pope. Bon- 
iface died a martyr in Friesland in 755, at 
the age of 75. 

3. Holland. Willibrord (692-741), an- 
other Englishman, labored in Friesland, 
where he became Bishop of Utrecht. He, 
also, was a warm supporter of Rome, and 
a friend to Boniface. 

4. Eastern Asia. " Timotheus, who was 
the Nestorian Patriarch from 778 to 820, 
may be mentioned as the warmest advocate 
of missions. He sent out a large band of 
monks from the convent of Beth-abe, in 
Mesopotamia, to evangelize the Tartar 
tribes, who roved in the neighborhood of 

75 



FROM GREGORY TO CHARLEMAGNE 

the Caspian Sea; and some of them pene- 
trated as far as India and China, either 
planting or reviving in those distant parts 
a knowledge of the Gospel." (Hardwick, 
" Middle Age," p. 27.) 

V. MOHAMMEDANISM. 

Mohammed (570-632), the founder of a 
new religion, caused the greatest hindrance 
and menace to Christianity. As a boy, he 
was subject to epilepsy, and as he grew up, 
to visions and dreams. He spent much time 
in solitude and meditation. Out of a mixture 
of perverted Christianity, Judaism and Ara- 
bian idolatry and mysticism, he founded a 
synchretistic religion (the Koran), com- 
pletely rejecting idolatry, and proclaiming 
God as one God whose character is power 
and will. Mohammedanism tends toward 
fatalism, holds a low ideal of woman, sanc- 
tions polygamy, and its idea of heaven is 
licensed sensuality. 

In 611 Mohammed proclaimed his religion 
at Mecca, but without much success. In 
622 he fled to Medina (the Hegira), where 
he became master. He returned with the 
power of the sword and took Mecca (630). 
He issued an edict that all idolaters should 

76 



THE FIRST POPE, HADRIAN I. 

be killed unless they were converted to his 
faith. At his death (632) nearly all Arabia 
was conquered. In 637 Omar, the second 
caliph, took Jerusalem, and was master of 
Syria (639). Egypt was added (640), 
Persia (651), North Africa (707), it (Mo- 
hammedanism) was established in Spain 
(711), crossed the Pyrenees and was checked 
by Charles Martel (732) at Tours. " The de- 
fenseless patriarchates of Jerusalem, of An- 
tioch, and Alexandria, deprived of their right- 
ful pastors, and curtailed on every side, are 
moving illustrations of the general ruin; and 
out of four hundred sees that once shed a 
salutary light on Africa, four only were sur- 
viving in the eleventh century. The rest had 
been absorbed into the vortex of Islamism. ,, 
(Hardwick, p. 33.) 

Had Mohammedanism ever arisen, or 
spread, if the Church of the East had been 
more missionary and her life more pure? 
Today, Islam is the one rival of Christian- 
ity to become a world religion. 

VI. THE FIRST POPE, HADRIAN I. 

At the Council of Chalcedon (451) five 
patriarchates were established — Jerusalem, 
Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople and 
Rome. All of these were equal in author- 

77 



FROM GREGORY TO CHARLEMAGNE 

ity. How then did the bishop at Rome be- 
come a pope? 

1. Rome Was an Apostolic See — presided 
over by the Apostle Peter as the first bishop 
(according to tradition only). 

2. Rome Was for Years the imperial city, 
the capital of the world, and hence the bish- 
op at Rome was honored with the city. 

3. The Church at Rome was stronger 
than the others, more aggressive, more mis- 
sionary. 

4. The Spirit of the West was practical, 
not speculative. The same spirit that made 
Rome great, politically, also made the 
Church at Rome aggressive and dominat- 
ing. 

5. The Removal of the Capital to Con- 
stantinople left the Roman bishop the most 
important personage in the Eternal City. 
In the times of danger and crisis the bishop 
saved the city. In 452 Leo I. pacified Attila 
the Hun. 

6. The Greatness of Gregory in managing 
Church and civic affairs elevated the Ro- 
man bishop above others. 

7. The Immense Territory of the West, 
all under one patriarch, the Bishop of Rome, 
and the extensive missionary activities un- 

78 



DOCTRINAL CONTROVERSIES 

der his direction, gave him a virtual su- 
premacy over the Catholic Church. 

8. The Weakness of the Eastern 
Churches, and their overthrow by Moham- 
medanism, left the Roman bishop the actual 
head, and finally the theoretical head of the 
entire Church. 

9. Hadrian I. (772-795) was the first pope 
who claimed that the seat of Peter (the 
bishop at Rome) was bishop of the univer- 
sal Church (sedes apostolica caput totius 
mundi et omnium Dei ecclesiarum). 

10. Furthermore, during the doctrinal 
controversies of the Church, Rome was, for 
the most part, orthodox. This, too, gave 
Rome a preeminence. 

VII. DOCTRINAL CONTROVERSIES. 

1. The Adoptionist Controversy. In the 

last chapter we discussed the Christological 
controversies. One more claims our atten- 
tion. Elipandus, of Toledo, Spain, was pro- 
moter of the theory that Christ was the 
Son of God only on the divine side, and on 
the human side he was adopted as the Son. 
This theory denied the incarnation. It was 
condemned at a number of councils — Ratis- 

79 



FROM GREGORY TO CHARLEMAGNE 

bon 792, Frankfort 794, Aachen 799, and 
Rome 800. 

2. The Filioque Controversy. In the West 
the creeds stated that the Holy Spirit pro- 
ceeded from the " Father and the Son " 
(filioque), while in the East the confessions 
had only " the Father." At the Council of 
Toledo (589) the " filioque " was added to 
the creeds of Nicaea and Constantinople. 

3. Iconoclastic Controversy. The Church 
was composed almost entirely of heathen 
converts who formerly worshiped idols. 
After they became Christians they had im- 
ages (eikons) in the churches. The Jews 
and Mohammedans ridiculed the Christians 
for their idolatry. In 726 Emperor Leo is- 
sued an edict, forbidding the kneeling be- 
fore images and pictures. A second edict 
(730) doomed images to destruction, the 
cross alone excepted. The second Council 
of Nicsea decided that " bowing and honor- 
able adoration should be offered to all sa- 
cred images ; but this external and inferior 
worship must not be confounded with the 
true and supreme worship which belongs 
exclusively to God." 

4. The Paulicians. In the seventh cen- 
tury, in Armenia, a sect arose who rejected 

80 



CULTURE AND SCHOOLS 

the Old Testament, and most of the New 
Testament except Paul (hence the name). 
They rejected all forms and ordinances. 
They were absolute dualists, and largely 
gnostic in belief. Their conception of Christ 
was docetic. 

VIII. CULTURE AND SCHOOLS. 

Charlemagne gathered around him the 
greatest scholars of his age. Alcuin of En- 
gland became his " intellectual prime min- 
ister." Peter of Pisa, and Paul the Deacon, 
and others were also called to his court. 
The clergy were ignorant; therefore he 
provided for their education. He founded 
schools at Paris, Tours, Corbie, Orleans, 
Lyons, Toulouse, Clugny, Mainz, Treves, 
Cologne, Utrecht, Fulda, and many others. 
In all he established fifty schools and fos- 
tered general education. After his death 
the schools again fell into the control of the 
clergy, and education for the masses was 
neglected. 

IX. CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORSHIP. 

This is the period of the Dark Ages, and 
the Christian life is at a low ebb, in spite 
of the few great men — including Gregory 
and Charlemagne — which the age produced. 

81 



FROM GREGORY TO CHARLEMAGNE 

1. Church Festivals. The heathen had 
many festivals in honor of their gods, so 
now these same festiyals are held but under 
Christian names — festivals of the Assump- 
tion, Nativity, Circumcision of Jesus, As- 
cension, All Saints, etc. 

2. There Was a Great Increase in super- 
stition, legalism and general immorality in 
the Church. The priests were ignorant and 
corrupt. Many were guilty of heinous 
crimes. 

3. Ecclesiasticism. Religion became more 
and more an outward form — kneeling before 
an altar, saying (not praying) prayers; pil- 
grimages, penances, masses for the dead, 
ordeals and confessions. 

4. Monasticism. The monasteries con- 
tained about the only true piety of the age. 
The Benedictine system became the model 
of the West. The monks fostered mission- 
ary activity, learning, agriculture and good 
morals. Later they became wealthy and 
corrupt. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. When was the fall of Rome? What did 
Charlemagne do? 

2. What was the effect of the gift of land to 
the pope? What great question was raised by 
this act? 

82 



QUESTIONS 

3. What constitutes the greatness of Pope 
Gregory the Great? 

4. Name the important missionary endeavors 
of this period. 

5. Describe the rise of Mohammedanism. What 
does it stand for? What "effect did it have on 
the Church? 

6. Who was the first bishop of Rome to claim 
the rights of pope? What led to this claim? 

7. Describe the doctrinal controversies of this 
period. 

8. Tell about the culture and founding of 
schools. 

9. What was the nature of the life of the Dark 
Ages? The worship? 



83 



CHAPTER V. 

From Charlemagne to Gregory VII. 
814 to 1073 A. D. 

I. POLITICS. 

Charlemagne died January 28, 814, and 
was buried in the cathedral which he built 
in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle). He was suc- 
ceeded by his son Ludwig, who was a pious 
mollycoddle. The empire was divided in 
843 by the Treaty of Verdun among Lud- 
wig's three sons. All the successors in the 
Carolingian line were weak, so the splendid 
movements inaugurated by Charlemagne 
soon died out. Because of the weakness of 
these emperors the popes more and more 
encroached upon the civil rights. 

On February 2, 962, Otto I. was crowned 
emperor by the pope. Otto was a German. 
He was a strong emperor and again put the 
empire of the West upon its feet. This is 
the beginning of the " Holy Roman Em- 
pire." 

Feudalism arises in this period and 
reaches its height in the thirteenth century. 

The empire became practically pulverized 

85 



CHARLEMAGNE TO GREGORY VII. 

into small fiefs, with their lords and vassals. 
This was a political and social institution 
which fostered individualism, broke down 
the papal monarchy and saved the State. 
In due time feudalism had served its pur- 
pose, and gave way to the new nationalism 
of the fourteenth century. 

II. CHURCH AND STATE. 

During the days of Charlemagne the em- 
peror was supreme over Church and State. 
But his weak successors yielded in almost 
every point to papal aggression, until the 
end of this period we have the theory of 
papal supremacy in all things. The pope 
held that, as the successor of Peter, he 
wielded the two swords of Peter; viz., the 
Church and State. Hence the emperor is 
but a servant of the pope, who owns the 
earth. 

The emperor, however, still invested the 
offices, both temporal and spiritual. Since 
the bishops and prelates got their offices 
from the emperor, naturally they were more 
of politicians than prophets. Simony 
was universal, and corruption, like a fester- 
ing gangrene, brought the church up to her 
lowest ebb, in this period. 

86 



MISSIONS 

Private wars, fights, duels and intermin- 
able strife existed everywhere. The Church 
in Southern France tried to stop this condi- 
tion. The clergy attempted to enforce 
(1026) the "Peace of God," forbidding all 
Christians to fight on penalty of excommu- 
nication. This was too stringent for the 
times, so they compromised (1031) with the 
" Truce of God," which forbade all fightings 
on Church festivals and from Wednesday 
evening till Monday morning of each week. 
This had a great effect in bettering condi- 
tions. 

III. MISSIONS. 

1. Denmark. In 822 Ebbo, Archbishop 
of Rheims, went to Denmark and estab- 
lished a successful mission there. In 826 
Harold of Jutland and his retinue were bap- 
tized. Ansgar, the "Apostle of the North " 
(801-865), is the one through whom the con- 
version of the Scandinavians is largely due. 
He began in 826, went to Sweden (831) and 
became Archbishop of Hamburg (833). 
Persecutions, wars, and pirates opposed the 
missionary work and almost demolished it, 
but by the time of Ansgar's death (865) the 
missions were in a flourishing condition. 
" In 1075 the public services of Thor and 

87 



CHARLEMAGNE TO GREGORY VII. 

Odin were all absolutely interdicted by a 
royal order, and the cause of Christianity 
henceforth was everywhere triumphant." 
(Hardwick, p. 108.) 

2. Iceland. Iceland was colonized by 
Norwegians in 870. In 981 a mission was 
started, but failed. In 996 Stefner, a native 
of Iceland, who became a Christian in Nor- 
way, carried back the Gospel to his people. 
In the year 1000 Christianity was legally 
established, all were immersed in the warm 
waters of the geysers, and paganism was 
abolished. 

3. Greenland. Lief, of Iceland, carried 
the Gospel to Greenland in 999, " and in 
1055 the community of Christians had been 
fully organized by the appointment of a 
bishop." 

4. The Slavic Races. The Gospel was 
taken to the Moravians (862) by Cyril and 
Methodius of the Greek Church. They la- 
bored under great difficulties and opposi- 
tion. Later the Moravian missions are un- 
der the bishops of Bohemia. From 871, on, 
the Bohemians come under the influence of 
the Gospel, and a century later they seem 
to be wholly evangelized. The Poles and 



CHURCH DOCTRINE 

the Wends come under the missionary in- 
fluence from about 950 on. 

5. Hungary was evangelized from 970 to 
1038. 

IV. OPPOSITION AND PERSECU- 
TION OF THE CHURCH. 

1. Danish and Norwegian Vikings (pi- 
rates) settled in England and harassed the 
people and the Church (787) for three cen- 
turies. In about 870 they settled in France, 
and laid waste the country. They gradually 
yielded to the Gospel. 

2. Mohammedans. From 850 to 960 the 
Moslems persecuted the Christians in Spain, 
where multitudes perished by the scourge 
or in the flames like the ancient martyrs. 

V. CHURCH DOCTRINE. 

1. In 831 Paschasius Radbertus wrote a 
book, " De Corpore et Sanguine Domini," 
in which he declared that the bread and 
wine of the eucharist are changed into the 
real flesh and blood of Christ when conse- 
crated by the priest, i. e., transubstantiation. 
In 844, when a second edition appeared, 
Ratramus, a monk of Corbey, criticised the 
view, holding that Christ is present only 

89 



CHARLEMAGNE TO GREGORY VII. 

spiritually. Radbertus had written only 
what nearly everybody already believed, so 
the transubstantiation theory won the vic- 
tory and is held today by the Catholic 
Church. 

2. Free Will. Gottschalk (c. 847) held 
that man is predestined in everything ; some 
to heaven, others to hell. Man is predes- 
tined to grace, or to sin ; he has no free will 
at all. This aroused his former teacher at 
Fuldo, Rabanus Maurus, who believed in 
Divine decrees, but could not bear making 
God responsible for sin. Gottschalk was 
put into prison, remaining till his death 
(868). 

3. John Scatus Erigena. Erigena was 
one of the precursors of the schoolmen, who 
tried to establish Christian dogmas by phi- 
losophy. He believed (as all the schoolmen) 
that philosophy and theology are the same, 
and human reason could and should sub- 
stantiate religion. This learned philosopher 
was asked to write on the two mooted ques- 
tions of the day, Predestination and the 
Eucharist. His former treatise appeared in 
851, wherein he defends the freedom of the 
will. Erigena saw no more in the Eucharist 
than a memorial of Christian truths, " By 

90 



CORRUPTION OF THE CHURCH 

which the spirit of the faithful is revived, 
instructed and sustained." It is needless to 
say that by these liberal views Erigena got 
enemies on all sides. 

4. Image Worship. This controversy 
arose again and waged from 815 to 879. The 
images gained the victory and remained in 
the churches as objects of adoration and 
worship. This controversy was opened 
again in the sixteenth century. 

VI. THE CORRUPTION OP THE 
CHURCH. 

1. The Papacy (from 880-1049). "The 

papacy lost almost all its power and prestige 
and came to be a bone of contention among 
rival factions. Pope Formosus (891-898), 
having been treated with the utmost indig- 
nity by one party, and having been enabled 
afterwards to wreak bloody vengeance up- 
on his enemies, was probably poisoned. He 
was succeeded (after fifteen days, during 
which Boniface VI. began and ended his 
pontifical reign) by his mortal enemy, Ste- 
phen VI., who had his body exhumed, tried, 
condemned, deposed, stripped of pontifical 
robes, cut to pieces and thrown into the Ti- 
ber. The pontifical acts of Formosus were, 

91 



CHARLEMAGNE TO GREGORY VII. 

of course, abrogated by Stephen. In about 
a year the other party triumphed, and Ste- 
phen was imprisoned and strangled. Ste- 
phen's successor, Marinus, reigned four 
months, and Marinus' successor three 
weeks. John X. was elected by the party 
that had sustained Formosus (898), and de- 
voted his energies to annulling the proceed- 
ings of Stephen. Leo V. (903), having 
reigned for two months, was murdered by 
his chaplain, who succeeded him. The mur- 
derer was murdered and succeeded by 
Sergius III., after eight months of pontifical 
glory." (Newman, vol. I, p. 497.) 

" With Sergius was inaugurated what is 
known in history as the Pornocracy. Maro- 
zia, a licentious noblewoman, as mistress of 
Sergius, directed the papal government for 
seven years. His successor, John X., was 
appointed by his mistress, Theodora. He 
led in person a successful military expedi- 
tion against the Saracens, but returned to be 
driven into exile by Marozia. Through the 
influence of another licentious woman he 
succeeded in reinstating himself, but 
through the influence of Marozia he was 
soon afterwards strangled in a dungeon. 
The next three popes were creatures of 

92 



CORRUPTION OF THE CHURCH 

Marozia; the third (John XL), her bastard 
son by Pope Sergius, a youth of twenty-one. 
From 936 to 956 a sort of Roman republic, 
with Alberic at its head, prevailed. 

Alberic appointed four popes in succes- 
sion and restrained them from political in- 
terference. A son of Alberic (a boy of 
twelve, or, as others say, eighteen), profli- 
gate beyond his years, succeeded his father 
in the civil government, and moreover as- 
sumed the papal office (John XII). He was 
charged by his contemporaries with the vio- 
lation of almost every principle of morality 
and religion : sacrilege, adultery, violation 
of widows, living with his father's mistress, 
invocation of Jupiter and Venus, and turn- 
ing the papal palace into a brothel. He was 
driven from the city, at the request of the 
people, by the aid of the German Emperor 
Otto, before whom he had been tried. After 
a time he was restored through the inter- 
vention of harlots, but was soon afterwards 
killed by the injured husband of a para- 
mour." (Newman, ibid.) 

2. Bishops and Priests. Like the popes, 
so the bishops, priests and laity were 
steeped in vices and sins. These ecclesi- 
astics got their appointments from the State, 

93 



CHARLEMAGNE TO GREGORY VII. 

and hence were mostly corrupt and ignorant 
politicians who had no qualifications what- 
ever for their offices. Simony and impurity 
were almost universal. 

VII. CENTRALIZATION. 

In the last chapter we noticed the growth 
of papal authority. In this period one char- 
acter stands out supremely as the creator 
of papal power and authority. Nicholas I. 
(858-867), like Gregory I., came to the papal 
throne in a time of wild disorder and gen- 
eral disintegration. Nicholas, also, was a 
man of clean morals, and a gentle disposi- 
tion to those who did what was right. But 
he excelled all his predecessors in the con- 
ception he had of papal authority and in 
the use of such authority. 

The false decretals (Isidorian decretals) 
came to hand about this time. These decre- 
tals were doubtless the fabrication of a few 
bishops in connivance with the pope, who 
chafed under the vigilant and autocratic 
rule of the metropolitans, or archbishops. 
The bishops would rather be under the 
pope at a distance than under the arch- 
bishops near at hand. Hence, to increase 
the popes' authority, they invented a num- 

94 



REFORM— CLUNY 

ber of decrees going back to 68 A. D., show- 
ing that the popes (bishops of Rome) in 
these early years had exercised absolute 
sovereignty over all — both Church and 
State. The false decrees were mixed with 
authentic decrees and sent out over the 
name of the great scholar, Isidore of Seville, 
who died a few centuries before they ap- 
peared. 

Nicholas I. used these decretals as genu- 
ine (for no one doubted them till the Ref- 
ormation) in a most effective manner. (1) 
He humbled Hincmar, Archbishop of 
Rheims, by restoring Bishop Rothbald of 
Soissons, whom Hincmar had deposed. 
Hincmar was compelled to apologize and 
to recognize the pope's authority. (2) Lo- 
thaire II., King of France, divorced his wife 
and married his maid, Waldroda. The 
queen, Tutberga, appealed to the pope, who 
espoused the cause and brought, the king 
to terms. (3) He also restored Ignatius, 
Patriarch of Constantinople, who had been 
unjustly deposed by the Eastern emperor. 

VIII. REFORM— CLUNY. 

Monasticism has four great periods in 
the West: (1) The Benedictines of the sixth 

95 



CHARLEMAGNE TO GREGORY VII. 

century, (2) the Cluny movement of the 
tenth century, (3) the mendicants of the 
thirteenth century, and (4) the Jesuits of 
the sixteenth century. (Harnack.) Each 
of these movements was a reformation at 
the beginning, but, having served its pur- 
pose, became corrupt. In the tenth century 
the monasteries lost their savor and were 
swept down in the general maelstrom of 
corruption. But just when the church most 
needed help a new kind of monastery came 
into being. In 910 Cluny, in France, was 
founded by Berno. Berno's successor, Odo 
(927-941), developed this monastery to its 
tremendous influence. By the middle of the 
twelfth century over 2,000 convents were 
under the control of Cluny. Hildebrand 
(Gregory VII.) was a monk of Cluny and 
carried out the Cluny reforms — celibacy of 
the clergy, and to put an end to simony by 
ending lay investiture. 

IX. CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORSHIP. 

The morals of the Church have already 
been described. The worship had now be- 
come thoroughly developed into the Roman 
religion — legalism and heathenism. 

Sacerdotalism, magic, formalism, ecclesi- 

96 



QUESTIONS 

asticism, characterize the religion of the 
Middle Ages. Anselm, the great schoolman 
of the period, was canonized, so the magic 
and superstition of these " Dark Ages " will 
continue to be the religious expression of 
Roman Catholicism, unless the " infallible 
pope " can change what has already been 
" infallibly " declared to be infallible. In- 
dulgences, penance, worship of relics, the 
bones of the saints, pilgrimages, etc., take 
the place of repentance and a pure heart. 
The laity are not taught the Scriptures, and 
the clergy do not know them. Ignorance, 
superstition and corruption prevail every- 
where. But always a few men, here and 
there, in each generation, have been pre- 
served, who drink from the pure source of 
Light and Life, who are the leaven of the 
kingdom which becomes the center of re- 
form. Monasticism always stands for " re- 
nunciation of the world." The new 
monastic movement spells reform. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. Describe the political conditions of this 
period. 

2. What was the relation of the Church and the 
State? 

3. Describe the missionary activities to Den- 
mark; to Iceland; to Greenland; to the Slavs. 

97 



CHARLEMAGNE TO GREGORY VII. 

4. "Name the two sources of persecution of the 
Church in this period. 

5. What is transubstantiation? What was the 
Free Will Controversy? Who was Erigena? 
What was the result of the image worship con- 
troversy? 

6. Describe the corruption of the papacy; of 
the bishops and the priests. 

7. What caused the growth of the centraliza- 
tion of the power in the pope? How did Pope 
Nicholas show his power? 

8. What was the Cluny Reform Movement? 

9. Describe the Christian life and worship. 



98 



CHAPTER VI. 

From Gregory VII. to Boniface VIII. 
1073 to 1294 A. D. 

I. INTRODUCTION. 

In 1054 the Eastern Church was definitely 
separated from the West. The Cluny Re- 
form Movement became active under a 
number of German popes, beginning with 
Leo IX. (1049). Hildebrand, a young monk 
of Cluny, who had gone into exile with 
Gregory VI., was the chief adviser, and the 
real power that directed the popes until he 
himself became Pope Gregory VII., in 1073. 
The Cluny reformers believed that the cor- 
ruption of the clergy — simony, ignorance, 
and impurity — could be cured by two re- 
forms; viz., celibacy of the clergy and ec- 
clesiastical instead of lay investiture; for 
many of the clergy were married, and most 
of them were incompetent politicians, who 
bought their offices from the civil rulers. 
Lay investiture means to be invested with 
the office by the civil ruler. 

99 



GREGORY VII. TO BONIFACE VIII. 

II. HILDEBRAND. 

" During the funeral services of Alexan- 
der II. at St. John's, in the Lateran, a great 
shout arose from the multitude in the 
church that Hildebrand should be their 
bishop. The cardinal, Hugh the White, ad- 
dressed the assembly, ' You know, breth- 
ren/ he said, ' how, since the time of Leo 
IX., Hildebrand has exalted the Roman 
Church, and freed our city. We cannot find 
a better pope than he. Indeed, we cannot 
find his equal. Let us then elect him, who, 
having been ordained in our Church, is 
known to us all, and thoroughly approved 
by us all/ There was a great shout in an- 
swer: 'St. Peter has chosen Hildebrand 
to be pope/ Despite his resistance, Hilde- 
brand was dragged to the church of St. 
Peter ad Vinculo and immediately en- 
throned." (Tout, " The Empire and Papa- 
cy/' p. 124.) 

Hildebrand was a man of indomitable 
will, high moral sense, and a purpose to re- 
form the world by creating " a sort of uni- 
versal monarchy of the papacy." He be- 
lieved that " the pope is the master of em- 
perors ; he is rendered holy by the merits of 
his predecessor, St. Peter; the Roman 

100 



HENRY IV. 

Church has never erred, and Holy Scrip- 
tures prove that it never can err; to resist it 
is to resist God." Hildebrand was bent on 
reform, but he was too severe and legalistic 
in his methods. Reform cannot be effec- 
tive or permanent which is merely external; 
legalistic morality cannot do the work of a 
new affection in the heart. 

III. THE SYNOD OF 1075. 

Gregory VII. (Hildebrand) held a synod 
in Rome that decided against lay investiture 
and simony. " If any one henceforth re- 
ceive from the hand of any lay person a 
bishopric or abbey, let him not be consid- 
ered as abbot or bishop, and let the favor of 
St. Peter and the gate of the Church be for- 
bidden to him. If an emperor, a king, a 
duke, a count, or any other lay person pre- 
sume to give investiture of any ecclesiasti- 
cal dignity, let him be excommunicated." 
This decree was the beginning of a great 
contest between the emperor and the pope 
that lasted for several centuries. 

IV. HENRY IV. 

The emperor was incensed at this new de- 
cree and ignored it by investing a new bish- 
op at Milan. In 1076 Henry IV. held a 

101 



GREGORY VII. TO BONIFACE VIII. 

council at Worms and condemned the pope. 
Henry wrote a letter to the pope, which be- 
gan as follows : " Henry, king, not by usur- 
pation, but by the holy ordination of God, 
to Hildebrand, not pope, but false monk." 
Henry accused the pope of all kinds of sins, 
and especially that he dishonored the em- 
peror, who is divinely appointed. The let- 
ter closed thus : " I, Henry, king by the 
grace of God, with all my bishops, say unto 
you: Come down, come down, and be ac- 
cursed through all the ages." (Thatcher 
and McNeal, " Source Book.") Hereupon 
the pope excommunicated the emperor and 
absolved all his subjects from allegiance to 
him. The pope addressed his letter to St. 
Peter: "Confident of my integrity and 
authority, I now declare in the name of Om- 
nipotent God, the Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit, that Henry, son of the Emperor 
Henry, is deprived of his kingdom of Ger- 
many, and Italy; I do this by thy authority 
and in defense of the honor of thy Church ; 
because he has rebelled against it. . . . 
therefore by thy authority I place him un- 
der the curse. It is in thy name that I 
curse him, that all people may know that 
thou art Peter, and upon thy rock the Son 
of the living God has built his church, and 

102 



CANOSSA 

the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
it." (Thatcher and McNeal, " Source 
Book.") 

V. CANOSSA. 

The pope's bull of excommunication had 
the desired effect. Henry had enemies at 
home and his subjects and army left him. 
Now Henry always seemed to know how 
to get out of a difficulty. He must make 
peace with the pope. Not waiting till the 
pope could come to Germany, as he had 
planned, and convene Henry's enemies, the 
emperor set out in haste to meet the pope 
and confess. The pope, hearing that Henry 
was coming, but not knowing his intent, 
intrenched himself in Matilda's fortress at 
Canossa. Gregory writes that Henry " pre- 
sented himself at the gate of the castle, bare- 
foot and clad only in wretched woollen gar- 
ments, beseeching us with tears to grant 
him absolution and forgiveness. This he 
continued to do for three days, until all 
those about us were moved to compassion 
at his plight and interceded for him with 
tears and prayers." The pope was finally 
prevailed upon by Matilda to forgive Hen- 
ry. Thus the emperor bowed to the pope, 

103 



GREGORY VII. TO BONIFACE VIII. 

but it was a good stroke of policy for Hen- 
ry- 

VI. HENRY AND GREGORY. 

Henry's success at Canossa gained for 
him the loyalty of Germany. But before 
Henry got back to Germany, the papal le- 
gates elected another king, Rudolph of 
Schwabia, in place of Henry. War ensued, 
which lasted for a few years, but left Henry 
victorious. Now Henry and his friends 
elected another pope. Henry invaded Italy 
(1081-84), and finally captured Rome and 
besieged Gregory in the castle of St. Ange- 
lo. Gregory invited the Normans of South 
Italy to come to Rome. Henry fled beyond 
the Alps, and after a four days' siege the 
Normans gained the city and sacked it. 
" Rome was ruthlessly sacked, whole quar- 
ters were burned down, hideous massacres 
and outrages were perpetrated, and thou- 
sands of Romans were sold as slaves." The 
successor of St. Peter invited this outrage, 
and watched from the castle of St. Angelo, 
without the shedding of a single tear, the 
dragging of helpless women from their 
homes who were ruthlessly outraged, then 
massacred. The pope finally fled to Salerno, 
where he died May 25, 1085. 

104 



THE CRUSADES 

VII. THE CRUSADES. 

Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Mos- 
lem. Peter the Hermit made a pilgrimage 
to Jerusalem and brought back heartrending 
stories about the desecration of the Holy 
City. Pope Urban II. referred the matter 
of a crusade to a council, and a voice from 
the multitude cried out, " Deus vult " 
(" God wills it"). This became the watch- 
word which electrified Europe, and every- 
body wanted to fight the Moslem. The 
pope offered total absolution to all who 
would make a pilgrimage in so holy a cause. 
Hundreds of thousands of people rushed to 
Palestine. 

1. The First Crusade (1095) was headed 
by Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penni- 
less with 200,000 followers. All were lost. 
Finally 80,000 men, under Godfrey of Bouil- 
lon, captured Antioch, Edessa, and Jerusa- 
lem (1099). Godfrey became "Protector of 
the Holy Sepulchre." One of the results of 
this crusade was the formation of new or- 
ders of soldier monks — Knight Templars, 
Knights of St. John, and the Teutonic 
Knights. 

2. The Second Crusade (1147) was a stu- 
pendous failure. It was led by Louis VII. 

105 



GREGORY VII. TO BONIFACE VIII. 

of France, and Conrad III. of Germany. 
Bernard of Clairvaux urged this crusade, 
and comforted himself for the loss of three 
great armies by saying that it was better 
for them to die in a good cause and go to 
heaven, than to remain at home in sin and 
be lost eternally. 

3. The Third Crusade (1187) was the 

most splendid flower of feudalism and chiv- 
alry. It was led by the greatest knights of 
Europe, in their most gorgeous attire and 
display. Richard, Cceur de Lion, King of 
England ; Philip Augustus, King of France ; 
and Frederick Barbarossa, the Roman Em- 
peror, were the leaders. Jealousies between 
the leaders were fatal to success. They ac- 
complished nothing except to free the Chris- 
tians who lived in Jerusalem from paying 
taxes. 

4. In 1204 a Crusade was led by Venice 
against Constantinople, purely for selfish 
reasons. In 1212 the fanaticism of Europe 
led to a "Children's Crusade," which re- 
sulted in the death and slavery of about 50,- 
000 children. All the later crusades were 
failures, so far as the original purpose was 
concerned — to rescue the Holy City from 
the Moslem. 

106 



INNOCENT III., PAPAL SUPREMACY 

VIII. RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES. 

1. " The breaking up of feudalism and 
the development of nationality." 

2. " Increase of wealth and power of the 
papacy." 

3. " The opening up of commerce." 

4. " The general diffusion of enlighten- 
ment." 

5. " The building up of great commercial 
cities whose interest lay in opposing feud- 
alism and in promoting freedom of thought." 

6. " The crusades tended to fuse Christen- 
dom into a homogeneous mass by uniting 
it into a common cause." (Newman, vol. 
I, p. 462.) 

IX. INNOCENT III. (1198-1216), PAPAL 

SUPREMACY. 

In Innocent III. we find the papacy at its 
height in absolutism. Innocent was one of 
the ablest of the popes, and had back of 
him the added strength of Hildebrand and 
the crusades, which made the pope dictator 
of kings and emperors. His theory of the 
papacy was expressed in these words : " The 
vicegerent of Christ is less than God and 
more than man. God has given to St. Peter 
not only the government of the church, but 

107 



GREGORY VII. TO BONIFACE VIII. 

also the government of the world. The 
Church is the sun, the empire the moon, 
shining with borrowed light." 

1. Innocent Put France under the inter- 
dict because Philip Augustus put away his 
wife. Philip came to terms. 

2. He Excommunicated Otto IV. of Ger- 
many and absolved his subjects (1211), be- 
cause he showed a spirit of independence. 
Otto retired to private life. 

3. Innocent Brought King John of En- 
gland to his knees, took away his kingdom 
(1213), then gave it back as a fief. The 
people of England forced the Magna Char- 
ta from King John (1215), and the pope 
fortunately died before he could reverse it. 

X. NEW SECTS. 

1. The Albigenses lived in southern 
France. They rejected much of the Roman 
doctrine, especially the formalism. Their 
aim was to purify religion and make it more 
spiritual. But they went too far and be- 
came involved in gnostic and Manichaean 
dualism. They were completely extermi- 
nated by a crusade sent against them by the 
pope, who offered absolution to all who took 
part in the crusade. 

108 



MENDICANTS 

2. The Waldenses. About 1170 Peter 
Waldo of Lyons, France, and his followers 
began to preach the Gospel to the people. 
They procured a translation of the Gospel 
in the vernacular. They rejected Catholic 
formalism, prayers for the dead, and the 
mass, and attempted to get back to apos- 
tolic Christianity. They emphasized holy 
living and not formalism as the essence of 
religion. The Waldenses were excommuni- 
cated in 1184, and became, throughout their 
history, the object of the most cruel perse- 
cutions known to mankind. 

XL MENDICANTS. 

Many new orders came into being, to off- 
set the corruption of the older orders and 
of the Church. The Cistercians (1098) be- 
came famous through Bernard of Clairvaux. 
The Carthusians were noted for their rigid 
discipline. The Order of St. Anthony was 
principally engaged in the care of the sick. 
But the two orders of the most prominence 
are the Mendicants. 

The Dominicans, or Black Friars, were 
founded by St. Dominic (1170-1221), who 
tried to convert the Albigenses in southern 
France. The Dominicans became the agents 
of the pope during the Inquisition. 

109 



GREGORY VII. TO BONIFACE VIII. 

The Franciscans, or Grey Friars, were 
founded by St. Francis of Assisi (1182- 
1226). The life of St. Francis is one of the 
most interesting in all church history. He 
had been a reckless, worldly youth and a 
spendthrift. A severe illness made him 
thoughtful and caused his conversion. He 
became prodigal in almsgiving, and he chose 
poverty for his bride. He went about al- 
most naked, barefooted, and hungry, preach- 
ing the Gospel to the people. His great 
passion was love and sympathy. Possibly 
no one since Christ has impressed the peo- 
ple with such an overflowing love as did 
Francis of Assisi. 

The fundamental difference between the 
earlier orders and the Mendicants was that 
the former tried to save the individual soul 
by running away from the world, while the 
latter tried to save the world by mingling 
with the world. 

. XII. SCHOLASTICISM. 

Scholasticism, as well as papal supremacy, 
comes to its culmination in this period, and 
reaches its climax in the thirteenth century. 
" Scholasticism is but another name for the 
mediaeval system of dogmatics." It is phi- 

110 



SCHOLASTICISM 

losophy and logic applied to the subject mat- 
ter of theology; attempting to define and 
base the dogmas of the Church in reason. 
Scholasticism was actuated by a zeal for 
the Catholic Church, which it tried to de- 
fend by an elaborate system of philosophy. 
The principles of Aristotle were largely 
made the basis of scholasticism. 

The most important men of this period 
were Anselm (d. 1109), Abelard (d. 1142), 
Peter Lombard (d. 1164), Alexander Hales 
(d. 1245), Albertus Magnus (d. 1280), 
Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), Bonaventura 
(d. 1274), and Duns Scotus (d. 1308). On- 
ly a few of these can be considered here. 

1. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
made a great contribution to the doctrine 
of the atonement in his book, " Cur Deus 
Homo" ("Why the God-Man"). For a 
thousand years the Church held that Christ's 
death was a ransom paid to Satan to buy 
back humanity which Satan had gotten by 
the fall of man. The doctrine of Anselm 
may be summed up as follows: (1) God's 
relation to man is that of a feudal lord or 
suzerain; he must be honored. (2) Sin is 
robbing God of the honor due him, and all 
sin must be punished or satisfied. (3) Sin 

111 



GREGORY VII. TO BONIFACE VIII. 

is measured not by the act, but by the great- 
ness or dignity of him against whom the 
sin is committed; hence the least dishonor 
against an infinite God demands an infinite 
punishment or death. (4) God's justice de- 
mands such punishment; his mercy leans 
toward forgiveness; the parallelogram of 
forces results in vicarious sacrifice. (5) 
God's love prepared the God-Man, Christ, 
who was perfectly obedient and needed no 
punishment for himself; hence his death is 
an infinite reward which is substituted for 
man's just punishment, whereby man is re- 
leased. (6) Thus God's honor is satisfied 
by Christ's substitutionary suffering, and 
man is saved. 

2. Abelard rested the atonement entirely 
upon the love and benevolence of God. 
God's love and forgiveness lose all meaning 
if he exacts payment. 

3. Peter Lombard wrote four books of 
sentences, " To put forth the strength of the 
church's faith; to make plain the meaning 
of the holy sacraments." 

4. Thomas Aquinas (1227-74) was prob- 
ably the greatest of the scholastics. His 
" Summa Totius Theologise " (" The Sum of 
All Theology ") has been canonized as the 

112 



MYSTICISM 

theology of the Catholic Church, and is the 
basis of that church at the present time. 
Thus the Roman Church rests upon mediae- 
val theology. 

5. John Duns Scotus was a great rival of 
Aquinas in intellectual power. He differed 
widely from Aquinas in theology and be- 
came the forerunner of later Nominalism. 

XIII. MYSTICISM. 

Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153) became 
a monk at the Cistercian Monastery at Ci- 
teaux. He was a young man of all the 
charms, ability and prestige needed to give 
him the highest positions in State and so- 
ciety. He entered the most exacting mon- 
astery in the world, and went even beyond 
the requirements of the monastery in self- 
discipline. Bernard succeeded in getting 
all his warrior brethren into the monastery 
except the youngest, who was not old 
enough to enter. Bernard was one of the 
greatest orators and most persuasive 
preachers in the history of the Church. So- 
ciety was rough, lawless, corrupt ; from this 
Bernard was calling men, both by the elo- 
quence of his voice and by the still greater 
eloquence of his pure and holy life. 

113 



GREGORY VII. TO BONIFACE VIII. 

In 1115 Bernard, with twelve others, was 
sent forth from Citeaux to found another 
monastery, which he established at Clair- 
vaux. This place had been a marshy valley 
called " Valley of Wormwood." Now it was 
called Clairvaux, or Bright Valley. 

Bernard later entered into public life, 
preaching against luxury and worldliness. 
He boldly attacked all sin, whether in the 
papacy, the bishops, priests or laymen. He 
opposed Abelard by putting his own mys- 
tical faith in the certainties of religion over 
against the speculations of the schoolmen. 
This was a struggle between giants — con- 
structive, practical faith against critical, 
speculative reason. St. Bernard was victo- 
rious in this contest. Bernard is classed 
among the mystics because of his contem- 
plative nature, believing that divine truth 
comes to one by resignation and contempla- 
tion ; the mystic, intuitive vision rather than 
by speculative reason. 

XIV. CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WOR- 
SHIP. 

The general corruption of the ministry of 
the Church has already been referred to — 
simony and concubinage. Lay investiture 

114 



CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORSHIP 

was finally settled by a compromise at the 
Concordat of Worms in 1122, when Henry 
V. gave up the right of investiture. 

Papal supremacy, which was begun by 
Gregory VII. (1073), reached its climax in 
Innocent III. (1198-1216), and continued to 
Boniface VIII. (1294). The morals of the 
people were low; life was wild, lawless and 
corrupt. 

The Church became more and more cere- 
monial. Seven sacraments now composed 
the system; viz., baptism, confirmation, 
eucharist, penance, extreme unction, mar- 
riage, and ordination. There was also an 
increase in the worship of saints and relics; 
of pilgrimages, absolution, indulgences, etc. 
The belief in a " treasury of merit " devel- 
oped. This meant that the saints had more 
merit than was necessary for their salvation, 
and the balance of their merit could be 
transferred by the pope to those who needed 
it upon the payment of a certain sum of 
money. Religion became more and more 
external. 

Fortunately, during all the periods of the 
Dark Ages there were always some noble 
men and women who were real saints that 
became the good seed for the revival of a 

115 



GREGORY VII. TO BONIFACE VIII. 

new conscience, and the hope of a truer 
religion. The Schoolmen, the Mystics, the 
Monks, all having shortcomings of their 
own, nevertheless each contributed toward* 
a new point of view that was destined to 
free human thought, and enthrone spiritual 
religion for the people. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What reforms were necessary in the Church? 

2. Who was Hildebrand? Describe his char- 
acter. 

3. What was done at the Synod of 1075? 

4. Who was the Roman Emperor? 

5. What took place at Canossa? What is the 
significance of this event? 

6. Describe the conflict between Henry and 
Gregory. 

7. What were the Crusades? Describe the first 
three. 

8. Name four results of the Crusades. 

9. What is meant by papal supremacy? What 
did the pope do that shows his supremacy over 
the temporal powers? 

10. Who were the Albigenses? The Waldenses? 

11. Name the two Mendicant orders of supreme 
importance. How did the Mendicants differ 
from the earlier orders? 

12. What was Scholasticism? Name the great 
schoolmen. 

116 



QUESTIONS 

13. What is Mysticism? Tell some facts about 
Bernard of Clairvaux. 

14. What were the morals of the Church dur- 
ing this period? What can you say about the 

^worship? 



117 



CHAPTER VII. 

From Boniface VIII. to Luther's 
Theses, 1294 to 1517 A. D. 

I. CHURCH AND STATE. 

Pope Boniface VIII. (1294-1303) tried to 
rule with the same autocratic power as did 
Innocent III. But the times changed. After 
the crusades a spirit of nationality devel- 
oped, and strong civil rulers, especially of 
England and France, resisted the monarch- 
ial claims of the papacy. During the cru- 
sades the pope was the inevitable head of 
Europe ; but public sentiment now began to 
turn its attention to political and national 
independence and glory. In this period the 
papacy fell, never again to regain its su- 
premacy as in the thirteenth century. 

Feudalism and chivalry, too, came to an 
end by the new spirit of nationalism, the 
formation of standard armies, the introduc- 
tion of gunpowder, and the new interest in 
commerce. 

This was a period of great unrest and 

119 



BONIFACE VIII. TO LUTHER'S THESES 

change politically ; wars ravaged all Europe. 
The Hundred Years' War tried to settle the 
question whether England was to rule Scot- 
land and France. Constantinople fell into 
the hands of the Moslem in 1453. The 
Moors in Spain fell in 1492. The same year 
Columbus discovered America. 

II. THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY 
(1305-1376). 

Pope Boniface VIII. was made arbitrator 
of a dispute between Philip the Fair of 
France and Edward of England. Philip did 
not like the pope's decision. The pope 
claimed to have complete authority over the 
State as well as over the Church. 

Philip seized the pope and put him in 
prison, where he died. The next pope, Bene- 
dict XL (1303-1304), reigned only nine 
months, when he died. He was succeeded 
by Clement V., a Frenchman, who was sub- 
ject to the king, and made his papal resi- 
dence in Avignon, France, instead of at 
Rome, as did all his predecessors. The 
papacy remained at Avignon for seventy 
years (1305-1376). 

This period is called the Babylonian Cap- 

120 



THE GREAT SCHISM 

tivity, in correspondence to the seventy 
years that the Jews were in Babylon. 

These popes at Avignon were all under 
French influence, lived like rich lords, in a 
most worldly fashion, spent their time in 
political intrigues, and, in general, lacked 
spirituality. They invented new ways by 
which they might enrich themselves. This 
new worldliness of the popes, and their sub- 
serviency to French interests, lost for the 
papacy the respect of the people. There 
was general decline of the papacy, while the 
empire gained power. 

III. THE GREAT SCHISM. 

Pope Gregory XL (1370-1378) was in- 
fluenced by Catherine of Siena to return to 
Rome and thus end the Captivity (1376). 
Urban VI. was elected at his death (1378), 
with the understanding that he return to 
Avignon. This he refused to do, so the 
French cardinals, who had the majority, 
elected Clement VII. at Avignon. Urban's 
proud, overbearing and cruel spirit alienated 
the cardinals from him, and they now fa- 
vored Clement. Urban appointed new 
cardinals, and now there were two popes 
with two colleges of Cardinals — one at 

121 



BONIFACE VIII. TO LUTHER'S THESES 

Rome and the other at Avignon. This 
schism lasted forty years (1378-1417). 

This schism brought the Church into bad 
repute, so that all the better people began 
to use their influence to end this shame and 
disgrace of the Church. The University of 
Paris took the lead in healing the schism. 
Several propositions were made. (1) That 
one or both of the popes should resign and 
make way for a new pope. (2) That a gen- 
eral council should be called to end the 
schism. Since neither of the popes yielded 
his claims, a council was called at Pisa in 
1409. 

IV. THE COUNCIL OF PISA. 

The College of Cardinals called this coun- 
cil, and in this very act struck a blow at 
the doctrine of papal autocracy. The two 
popes were deposed and Alexander V. was 
elected pope, with the promise that he would 
work reforms. The two popes refused to 
withdraw, hence the result was three popes. 
Alexander V. died in 1410 and was succeed- 
ed by John XXIII. , a mercenary politician. 
Things were going from bad to worse, and 
John had to yield to the Emperor Sigis- 
mund to call a new council. 

122 



THE COUNCIL OF BASLE 

V. THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE 

(1414-18). 

This was the sixteenth (Ecumenical 
Council of the Church and the largest in 
attendance. It brought together 18,000 
priests and 100,000 strangers. Sigismund, 
the emperor, was, in reality, the mover and 
leader of the council. He was anxious to 
end the schism. John XXIII. was tried for 
his many crimes, and deposed. Seventy 
charges of criminality were brought against 
him. Gregory XII. (of Rome) and Bene- 
dict XIII. (of Avignon) also were deposed. 
Martin V. was elected pope (1417), and 
thus ended the schism. But Martin did not 
carry out the reforms which he promised. 

The Council of Constance made itself in- 
famous by the condemnation and burning 
at the stake of John Huss, and his friend, 
Jerome of Prague (July 6, 1415). This 
council also condemned the writings of Wic- 
lif, and ordered his bones to be burned and 
the ashes scattered upon the waters. 

VI. THE COUNCIL OF BASLE (1431- 

49). 

Martin V. (1417-31) was a strong pope, 
but the corruptions were too deep-seated to 

123 



BONIFACE VIII. TO LUTHER'S THESES 

reform them all at once; neither was the 
pope strongly inclined to do so. Pope Eu- 
genius IV. (1431-47) organized this coun- 
cil, which attempted (1) to exterminate the 
heretics, and (2) to purify the Church. It 
also attempted to unite the Eastern and 
Western Churches. The council accom- 
plished nothing worth while. It was too 
weak to adjourn and finally died of inanity. 

VII. THE WICKED POPES. 

Paul II. (1464-71) was opposed to the 
progress and learning instituted by Nicho- 
las V. He was proud and avaricious. Six- 
tus IV. (1471-84) was more of a territorial 
lord or duke than head of the Church. " Six- 
tus is reported to have had sixteen illegiti- 
mate children, whose interest he advanced, 
using his office to this end." (Zenos, 
" Compendium of Church History," p. 186.) 

"Innocent VIII. (1484-92) abased the 
papacy no less than his predecessors. His 
care was to promote and to enrich his nu- 
merous children. To this end offices were 
sold with perfect shamelessness." (Shel- 
don, " The Mediaeval Church.") 

Alexander VI. (1492-1503) represents the 
climax of papal degradation. He bought 

124 



HUMANISM 

his office, and robbed everybody he could 
to advance his illegitimate children. "Alex- 
ander sold the keys, the altars, and Christ." 
He was doubtless guilty of poisoning others 
to get their wealth, and finally drank the 
poison prepared by his son. 

The immorality of these popes, and their 
increased clamor for money, which they got 
through the sale of indulgences, did much 
to arouse the people, which resulted in the 
Reformation. 

VIII. HUMANISM. 

This period might be called " Humanism," 
as the next is called " Reformation." Hu- 
manism means a just appreciation of man. 
The fourth and fifth centuries were con- 
cerned with the problems of Christology, 
the fourteenth and fifteenth with anthropol- 
ogy, and the sixteenth, with soteriology. 
This period is also called the Renaissance. 
It is a new birth in literature, art, and phi- 
losophy, especially a revival in the Greek 
classics. 

Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio represent- 
ed the new birth in literature ; Ciambue and 
Giotto in art; Pletho and Ficino advanced 
Greek studies and philosophy. 

125 



BONIFACE VIII. TO LUTHER'S THESES 

The influence of the Renaissance is one 
of the prime causes of the Reformation. 

IX. MYSTICISM. 

In the twelfth century, Bernard of Clair- 
vaux and William of Champeaux were rep- 
resentative mystics. In this period a num- 
ber of causes led to the contemplative life 
which sought and found peace and victory 
in mysticism. 

The Neo-Platonism, still in the Church, 
the aridity of Scholasticism, the corruption 
of the hierarchy, the ravages of the black 
death, and the natural convulsions of earth- 
quakes — all drove men to quiet contempla- 
tion. 

The great mystics were : Meister Eckart 
(1260-1327), John Tauler (1290-1361), Ruys- 
broek (1298-1386), and Thomas a Kempis 
(1380-1471). All these mystics remained 
faithful to the Catholic Church. "The 
Friends of God " were a small sect of mys- 
tics who drifted from the organized Church. 

X. LIFE AND WORSHIP. 

Boniface VIII. proclaimed the year 1300 
to be a jubilee year. All who made pilgrim- 
ages to Rome received absolution. Two 

126 



LIFE AND WORSHIP 

hundred thousand people came to Rome and 
contributed freely to the pope's income. 
This proved to be profitable for the popes, 
so jubilees became more frequent. 

Indulgences were granted at first, only 
for the remission of a part of one's sins 
upon the payment of a certain sum of money 
to the Church. Afterwards the whole pen- 
alty for sin could be paid with money; and 
finally the sins of the future could be paid 
for in anticipation. 

The corruption of the Church was gen- 
eral, religion was formal and external, sym- 
bolism and magic took the place of morality 
and spirituality. Only in the case of mys- 
tics, the reforming sects, and the great 
prophets of the new age, do we find a light 
to the world and the salt of the earth. 

The Inquisition, in the hands of the Do- 
minicans, was developed to its highest per- 
fection in Spain. It was a secret order, 
which sought out heretics, tortured and 
killed them, and confiscated their property. 
Persons accused were given, as a rule, no 
trial, and thousands of innocent Christians 
and Jews suffered the most horrible tortures 
and death. 

127 



BONIFACE VIII. TO LUTHER'S THESES 

XL THE FORERUNNERS OF THE 
REFORMATION. 

I. Wiclif (1320-1384). Wiclif was born 
in England, educated at Merton College, 
Oxford, and became Fellow and Warden of 
Balliol (1361). In 1374 he went to Lutter- 
worth, where the greatest scholar in En- 
gland became an itinerant missionary- 
preacher. He lived the simple life and 
preached to the masses. 

Wiclif wrote on theology, politics, and 
religious reform. His political writings at- 
tracted wide attention. He held to the sep- 
aration of Church and State. Both rest 
upon the supreme sovereignty of God. Wic- 
lif denied the authority of the pope; all 
authority rests in God. 

England had been overrun by the beggar 
monks. They held that poverty was in it- 
self merit. Wiclif opposed this idea. Pov- 
erty is not in itself merit, but a means to a 
deeper, richer, spiritual life. In all his re- 
ligious writings he advocated reform. 

In 1380 Wiclif began the translation of 
the Bible. This made it possible for the 
Scriptures to reach the people. 

He differed from the Catholic Church on 
the eucharist, denying transubstantiation. 

128 



FORERUNNERS OF THE REFORMATION 

He held that Christ was present after the 
consecration of the elements, but they re- 
mained bread and wine as before. 

Wiclif was the founder of English prose. 
He was accused of heresy, tried without 
much success and persecuted. In 1384 he 
was asked to appear before the pope at 
Rome, but his poor health prevented his 
going. He wrote to the pope that he 
would gladly explain his teaching to any- 
one, and especially to the pope, " be- 
cause," he wrote, " I suppose that if it be 
orthodox, he will confirm it with all humil- 
ity, and if it be erroneous, he will correct 
it." He declared he learned from the Scrip- 
tures to follow the pope only so far as he 
(the pope) followed Christ. 

2. John Hus (1369-1415). John Hus was 
a peasant boy of Bohemia, whose character 
was moulded by a number of influences. 
He inherited a deep spiritual and moral 
sense, studied the Scriptures carefully, read 
the books of Wiclif, and he added to these 
his love of the simple life, the preaching of 
the Gospel, and a burning hatred of the 
corruptions in the Church. 

There were also other men before Hus, 
in Bohemia, who had caught the vision of 

129 



BONIFACE VIII. TO LUTHER'S THESES 

a spiritual religion, who inspired the young 
prophet. Hus was a student at Prague, 
where he received his master's degree in 
1396. He became dean of the faculty in 
1401, and rector in 1403. 

In 1400 he became a priest, and preached 
in a chapel called Bethlehem, in the Bo- 
hemian language. Hus was a pure, noble 
man of a winning personality. 

Hus had a friend, Jerome of Prague, who 
was very eloquent. They put all authority 
in the Scriptures. 

Hus wanted to reform the Church. His 
method was, like that of Jesus, from below, 
by preaching the pure Gospel. Christ is 
the head of the Church, and spirituality is 
the measure of the Christian. 

Hus was forbidden to preach in Bethle- 
hem Chapel, was asked to burn the books of 
Wiclif, and finally (1411) was excommuni- 
cated. In 1412 the pope put an interdict 
upon Prague against Hus. He left the city 
to save the people. 

When Sigismund called the Council of 
Constance, Hus was ready to go and defend 
himself. The emperor promised safe con- 
duct thither and return. When Hus arrived 
at Constance he and Jerome were cast into 

130 



FORERUNNERS OF THE REFORMATION 

prison. Six months later came the trial. 
Hus was charged with heresy. But none of 
the charges could be found in any of his 
writings nor in his public expressions. But 
the council decided he was a heretic, and he 
must recant. Recant of what? Can a man 
confess to a sin which he did not commit? 
Sigismund advised him to admit heresy, then 
recant and save his life. How could he ad- 
mit a thing which was not true? Hus had 
a conscience. " Indeed it is better for me to 
die, than, by avoiding a momentary punish- 
ment, to fall into the hands of the Lord, 
and perhaps afterwards into fire and ever- 
lasting punishment." Hus was a martyr to 
conscience. 

On July 6, 1415, he and Jerome were 
burned at the stake, as martyrs to the truth. 
Why were they burned? Because they re- 
fused to tell a lie, even though a church 
council asked them to do so. Church coun- 
cils sometimes err. 

3. Savonarola (1452-1498). Savonarola 
became a Dominican monk at twenty-two 
at Bologna. In 1491 he became prior of St. 
Mark's Monastery in Florence, having been 
there nine years. Savonarola was a great 
preacher. He rebuked (1) the corruption 

131 



BONIFACE VIII. TO LUTHER'S THESES 

of the laity and clergy, (2) the lack of spir- 
ituality in an age of luxury and culture, (3) 
the luxury of common life and the pomp of 
religious worship. 

He was opposed to the autocratic rule of 
the Medici in Florence, and worked for 
freedom. He resolved to restore the liber- 
ties of Florence. In 1494 Savonarola be- 
came ruler of the city. He effected a great 
moral and religious reform in the city. As 
prior of the monastery, he caused a great 
moral reformation, and converted it into a 
school to study the Scriptures and art. 

Savonarola opposed the pope, Alexander, 
who got his office by bribery. The pope 
tried to quiet him by offering him a cardi- 
nalate. He refused, saying that he would 
never wear the red hat unless it were dyed 
in his own blood of martyrdom. 

In 1497, at the time of the carnival, he 
sent the boys of Florence to the homes of 
the people to ask for vanities or luxuries. 
They made a pile fifteen stories high of 
" carnival masks, and dresses, rich dresses 
and ornaments of women, false hair, dice, 
cards, perfumes, and cosmetics, amatory 
poems and other books of a free character, 
musical instruments, paintings, sculptures," 

132 



FORERUNNERS OF THE REFORMATION 

and all other things which were associated 
with worldliness and immorality, and 
burned them. Instead of the usual frivol- 
ities of the carnival, Savonarola and his 
boys marched through the streets and sang 
songs and psalms. 

On May 12, 1497, he was excommuni- 
cated. He continued preaching and de- 
nounced the pope. Jealousy arose among 
the Franciscans. Savonarola was challenged 
to an ordeal by fire, whereby he was to 
prove or free himself of guilt. Guilt of 
what? That was not asked — only guilt. A 
storm prevented the ordeal by fire. The 
people took this as an evil omen and turned 
against him. Savonarola was tortured and 
his weak frame broke down. His enemies 
got control of the city. On May 20, 1498, 
Savonarola and three of his friends were 
hanged, then burned. Why? Because he 
broke down under inhuman torture. Or 
better, because he followed in the footsteps 
of his Lord, in bearing witness to the truth. 

While Savonarola was being burned, 
young Luther was in preparation to lead 
the forces of truth and freedom to victory. 
The Reformation is on. 

133 



BONIFACE VIII. TO LUTHER'S THESES 



QUESTIONS. 

1. What change takes place in the power of 
the papacy? What changes in civic life are being 
made? Describe the spirit of the age. 

2. Describe the Babylonian Captivity of the 
Church. 

3. What was the Great Schism? What was its 
effect on the Church? 

4. What efforts were made to heal the schism? 
What was done at the Council of Pisa? 

5. Who called the Council of Constance? How 
was the schism ended? What crime was com- 
mitted by the Church? 

6. Describe the Council of Basle. 

7. Who were the "wicked popes"? Describe 
their character. What effect did their lives have 
upon later history? 

8. What was Humanism? 

9. What is Mysticism? Name the great Mys- 
tics. 

10. Describe the Christian life and worship. 

11. Who were the great forerunners of the 
Reformation? State a few facts about Wiclif; 
Hus; Savonarola. 



134 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Reformation, 1517 to 1648 A. D. 

I. INTRODUCTION. 

Modern history begins with the discovery 
of America by Columbus in 1492; modern 
Church history with the Reformation 
(1517). These epochs are not abrupt 
changes, but gradual developments. It was 
the modern spirit before these events that 
made them possible. The Reformation is 
mediaeval in spirit and method, rather than 
modern; but the struggle for freedom re- 
ceived an impetus in the Reformation which 
has changed the course of history. 

Three great inventions prepared the way 
for the Reformation. (1) Printing, with 
movable type, was invented about 1450. 
This made possible the spread of the new 
learning of the Renaissance. The Bible 
was printed and became more generally 
known. From 1456 to 1518 fourteen edi- 
tions of the German Bible, four of the 
Dutch, and ninety-eight of the Latin, were 
published. (2) Gunpowder made the peas- 

135 



THE REFORMATION 

ant equal to the mailed knight, broke down 
chivalry and feudalism, and furthered na- 
tionalism and the standing army. (3) The 
mariner's compass enabled seamen to trav- 
erse the oceans in search of new worlds. 
In Egypt and Babylon commerce was lim- 
ited to the rivers; in Europe to the inland 
seas, especially the Mediterranean; now we 
have ocean commerce, touching the world. 

Politically, a new nationalism had taken 
possession of Europe. Spain was the fore- 
most power, which was united by Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella, whose grandson became 
Emperor Charles V. (1519). France was 
consolidated and was ruled by Francis I. 
England was the first of the great nations 
to be consolidated. 

Italy and Germany were still divided in- 
to petty sovereignties. The popes of Rome, 
for selfish reasons, fostered the jealousies 
and quarrels between these princes, thus 
preventing their national unity. 

II. CAUSES OF THE REFORMATION. 

1. Intellectual. Humanism prepared the 
minds of men to question the old order of 
things through the revival of learning. The 
great humanists of this age are John Colet 

136 



CAUSES OF THE REFORMATION 

(1466-1519), Desiderius Erasmus (1467- 
1536), who published a Greek Testament 
with the Latin in 1516 (Erasmus was the 
greatest of the humanists), Thomas More 
(1478-1535) the author of "Utopia," and 
John Renchlin, the greatest Hebrew scholar 
of the age. 

Copernicus (1473-1543), who discovered 
the true idea about our solar system, also 
belongs to this period. 

The revival of art was developed by Ra- 
phael, Michel Angelo and Da Vinci. 

2. Religious. The mystics of the previous 
period showed the possibility of a deeper 
religious life. A new religious sense was 
created in the hearts of many of the best 
people in all nations who demanded a re- 
form of the Church. 

3. Corruption of the Church. Pope Alex- 
ander VI. was totally corrupt and worldly, 
and Julius II. was a warrior prince. The 
leaders of the Church everywhere were im- 
moral, worldly, and selfish. 

4. Ecclesiastical. Pope Leo X. found the 
treasury empty, and needed much money 
to carry out his plans, especially the build- 
ing of St. Peter's at Rome. In accordance 
with former practices, he offered indul- 

137 



THE REFORMATION 

gences to the public for the purpose of 
raising money. Tetzel was one of the 
agents who greatly abused this practice, and 
aroused the hatred of Luther. The whole 
system of worship had became external, 
formal, and magical. 

5. Economic and Political. Maximilian, 
the emperor, complained that the pope's in- 
come was a hundred times greater than his 
own. The whole of Europe was drained by 
taxes, annates and offerings, to satisfy the 
papal coffers. The economic and political 
unrest and dissatisfaction of Europe pre- 
vented the religious eruption from being 
crushed in embryo. 

The spirit of nationalism, craving inde- 
pendence from the autocracy of the pope, 
was a prime factor in the Reformation. 

6. Social. There was a social unrest 
among the peasants, who had been op- 
pressed by the popes and princes. This, 
combined with other causes, united with 
any movement that meant change and was 
hopeful of a better future. 

No doubt the main emphasis must always 
be placed in the moral and religious con- 
science that opposed a corrupted Church. 

138 



LUTHER 

Ulrich von Hutten was the leader of the 
social movement. 

III. LUTHER. 

1. Up to 1517. Luther was born Novem- 
ber 10, 1483, at Eisleben. His parents were 
humble peasants. They lived at Mansfeld, 
but went to Eisleben to attend a fair, " when 
their son was unexpectedly born on the eve 
of St. Martin." He was baptized the next 
morning and named Martin, in honor of the 
day. This period is summed up by Tulloch: 
" The boy at Mansfeld, the scholar at 
Eisenach, the student and monk at Erfurt, 
the pilgrim to Rome, the professor and 
preacher at Wittenberg.' , While at Eisen- 
ach he went from house to house and sang 
songs for bread. Frau Cotta took pity up- 
on him and provided him a home. 

He attended the university at Erfurt, 
where he studied philosophy and Latin. He 
received his master's degree in 1505, at the 
age of twenty-two. He studied law for a 
few years, but a dangerous illness and the 
sudden death of a friend turned him toward 
the monastery, which he entered July 16, 
1505. This was an Augustinian monastery, 
noted for its discipline. Here Luther went 

139 



THE REFORMATION 

through the most terrible struggles of his 
soul to get peace. Like Paul, he outdid 
others in the strict performance of the 
rules, but got no peace. Staupitz, the vicar, 
helped Luther to see that he was making 
too much out of little imaginary sins, and 
he must believe that God had forgiven him. 
Luther gained the victory through faith. 

In 1508 Luther was called to the new uni- 
versity at Wittenberg as professor. Instead 
of lecturing on dry scholastic philosophy he 
taught the Psalms, and later, the Pauline 
Epistles, Romans and Galatians. 

In 1511 Luther made a trip to Rome on 
business for his order. He was a zealous 
and devout Catholic in every respect. He 
fell at the feet of the pope with all the 
adoration of a pilgrim to a holy shrine. But, 
contrary to his expectations, instead of find- 
ing piety and reverence, he found luxury, 
selfishness, corruption. He, too, tried to 
ascend the twenty-eight steps of the Scala 
Santa on his knees to gain absolution, but 
the text, " The just shall live by faith," came 
to him with such power that he turned back. 

On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed on 
the door of Castle Church (Schloss Kirche) 
ninety-five theses in opposition to the abuses 

140 



LUTHER 

in the sale of indulgences. The best minds 
in Germany agreed with Luther that Tetzel 
went too far in his traffic. The moral and 
religious conscience of Luther was aroused, 
and he aroused Europe. 

2. From 1517 to 1521. The pope, at first, 
took no notice of this opposition, consider- 
ing it a mere " squabble of monks," for Lu- 
ther was an Augustinian, and Tetzel a Do- 
minican. But all Germany was aroused. 

In 1518 several fruitless attempts were 
made by the pope's agent, Cajetan, to make 
Luther retract. Finally Miltitz succeeded 
in making a truce. Luther promised to re- 
main quiet if his enemies would do the 
same. But they did not and the discussion 
was renewed. 

In 1519 Eck, on the papal side, debated 
with Luther at Leipzig. Eck forced Luther 
to confess that both popes and councils had 
erred. Hus was burned for holding such 
doctrines. Excommunication was sure. 

In 1520, before the bull of excommunica- 
tion was sent, Luther wrote three important 
documents: (1) "Address to the German 
Nobility," (2) "The Babylonian Captivity 
of the Church," (3) " Christian Freedom." 
In these he set forth his doctrines of justifi- 

141 



THE REFORMATION 

cation by faith, the universal priesthood of 
all believers, the independence of Germany 
from 'papal rule, etc. The pope's bull was 
taken and publicly burned. 

In 1521 the imperial diet met at Worms, 
to which Luther was summoned. He was 
promised safe conduct to Worms and back. 
Luther made his defense before the em- 
peror, Charles V., refusing to retract any of 
his writings unless he was shown by Scrip- 
ture or reason that he was in error. " I can 
and will retract nothing, for it is neither 
safe nor expedient to act against conscience. 
Here I stand; I can do no otherwise: God 
help me! Amen." 

3. From 1521 Till His Death. On Lu- 
ther's return from Worms he was captured 
by friends and taken to the strong castle, 
the Wartburg, at Eisenach, in seclusion. 
Here he translated the New Testament from 
the Greek. Previous German Testaments 
had been made from the Vulgate. 

Disorders and extravagances at Witten- 
berg called him back in spite of the danger. 

On June 16, 1525, Luther was married to 
Katharine von Bora, a former nun. The 
Catholics thought the antichrist would now 
be born. 

142 



PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION 

Luther, Melanchthon and a few others 
translated the Old Testament, and the en- 
tire Bible was published in German in 1534. 
Luther made the prophets and apostles 
speak German, and was, through his Bible, 
and other writings, the creator of the Ger- 
man language, especially prose. 

In 1529 Luther had a debate with Zwing- 
li, the great Swiss reformer, in Marburg, 
on the Eucharist. Unfortunately, Luther 
was too narrow here, holding on to his con- 
substantiation, and thus divided Protestant- 
ism. 

Luther died in 1546. 

IV. PROGRESS OF THE REFORMA- 
TION. 

Christian worship was changed from the 
Latin to the German language. Preaching 
the Word was emphasized; a larger place 
was given to hymns, in German. Luther 
wrote many hymns and also translated the 
best Latin hymns. He also wrote a cate- 
chism. Worship became didactic instead of 
liturgical. 

In 1525 the second Council of Spires vot- 
ed to return to the Edict of Worms, which 
put Luther under the ban. The minority 

143 



THE REFORMATION 

" protested," hence the name " Protestant." 
In 1530 the diet met at Augsburg. Here 
the Protestants presented a statement of 
their belief, written by Melanchthon, which 
is known as the "Augsburg Confession." 
This is the creed of the Lutheran Church. 
This diet passed an edict against the Prot- 
estants, demanding that all return to Rome. 

This led to the Schmalkald League, 1531, 
whereby the Protestant princes agreed to 
resist the decree of Augsburg if the em- 
peror tried to carry out his threat. 

The Turks and France again annoyed the 
emperor, so both parties made peace at Nu- 
renberg in 1532. 

The progress of the Protestants from the 
Diet of Worms (1521) till the Council of 
Trent (1546) was due largely to the con- 
stant troubles which the emperor had with- 
out — with France and the Turks — which 
prevented his interfering effectively with 
the Lutheran movement. 

In opposition to the Schmalkald League, 
the Catholics formed the " Holy League " 
(1538). 

Another conference, at Ratisbon (1541), 
attempted to reconcile the Protestants, led 

144 



ULRICH ZWINGLI 

by Melanchthon, and the Catholics, repre- 
sented by Contarini, but without avail. 

In 1546 the Schmalkald War broke out, 
first going against the Protestants, but final- 
ly resulted in the " Peace of Augsburg " 
(1555), when both sides, worn out, were 
willing to quit fighting, and recognize each 
other as having a right to exist. 

V. ULRICH ZWINGLI (1484-1531). 

The Reformation in Switzerland was led 
by Zwingli. He was a scholarly man, hav- 
ing studied at Basle, Bern and Vienna, and 
taught Latin at Basle while he studied phi- 
losophy. He did not come to the Reforma- 
tion principles like Luther, by an inner 
struggle for peace and salvation, but by 
philosophical and biblical studies. " The 
time has come when the ancient faith shall 
be restored according to the Word of God; 
indulgences are a Roman snare and a delu- 
sion/' Zwingli went back to the source — to 
the Scriptures — for authority in religion. 

In 1506 Zwingli became pastor at Glarus, 
where he continued his studies in the 
classics and philosophy. In 1515 he was 
chaplain in an Italian campaign, and the 
next year was transferred to Ensiedlen, 

145 



THE REFORMATION 

where he opposed the indulgences. 
Through his influence the canton of Zurich 
refused the papal emissary permission to 
come there. 

In 1521 Pope Leo X. requested the Swiss 
troops to fight the French ; Zwingli opposed 
this, holding all war for mercenary pur- 
poses to be wrong; war is never justified, 
save for righteousness. 

In 1522 the Bishop of Constance made a 
formal charge against Zwingli and ordered 
Zurich to silence him. Zwingli answered 
by sixty-seven theses, or articles, holding 
the absolute supremacy of Christ ; the direct 
approach to Christ; he rejected the mass; 
and denounced the hypocrisy of Rome. He 
invited his enemies to a debate and won in 
the disputation. 

In 1525 his canton threw off the authority 
of the bishop. Zwingli was throughout a 
democrat. He was slain in battle in 1531. 

VI. CALVIN (1509-1565). 

John Calvin was born in Noyon, France; 
was educated for the priesthood in Paris, 
and studied law at Bouges and Orleans. He 
heard from his teacher, Wolmar, the doc- 
trine of salvation by faith taught by Le- 

146 



CALVIN 

Fevre and Luther. Calvin was a great stu- 
dent, especially adept in the classics. He 
had a logical mind, and fearlessly thought 
out his theology. In 1534 he was banished 
from France. He started for Germany, and 
accidentally (if accidents happen) met Farel 
at Geneva. Farel persuaded him to stay at 
Geneva and help the cause of the Reforma- 
tion. 

In 1536 Calvin published his " Institutes 
of the Christian Religion." His theology 
was full-grown at the beginning of his ca- 
reer. As Wiclif was the founder of English 
prose, Luther of German, so is Calvin of 
French. 

Calvin's genius and natural leadership 
soon put him at the head of Geneva, where- 
by the city became completely transformed, 
even more than Florence under the leader- 
ship of Savonarola. 

Calvin's theology emphasizes a different 
side of Christian truth than Luther's. The 
Catholic Church was a combination of Jew- 
ish legalism, and paganism or idolatry. Lu- 
ther struck at the former with his doctrine 
of grace, and Calvin at the latter with his 
high conception of God and the " Divine 
Decree." He further emphasized predesti- 

147 



THE REFORMATION 

nation, election, total depravity, irresistible 
grace, and the everlasting perseverance of 
the elect. 

In 1538 there was a revolt against the su- 
preme authority of Calvin and Farel, and 
they were banished, but were recalled in 
1541. The "Ecclesiastical Ordinances" - 
were established, creating the officers of the 
Church: (1) Pastors, who should explain 
the Word, and dispense the sacraments. (2) 
Teachers, of the university and lower 
schools. (3) Presbyters (elders), who 
should exercise discipline, visit the members 
and test their faith. (4) Deacons, who 
should care for the sick and the poor. 

The discipline at Geneva was severe. In 
five years there were fifty-eight death sen- 
tences and seventy-six banishments in a 
population of 20,000. Servetus was executed 
in 1553. 

The Swiss Reformation, under the lead- 
ership of Bullinger, Zwingli's successor, 
united with the Calvinists in 1549. 

VII. ENGLAND. 

The Reformation principles had been 
growing in England since the days of Wic- 
lif and the Lollards. The humanists, Eras- 
mus, Colet and More, were at Oxford. 

148 



ENGLAND 

King Henry VIII. was a loyal Catholic. 
In 1521 he wrote in defense of the " Seven 
Sacraments," as a refutation of Luther. The 
Pope knighted him the " Defender of the 
Faith." 

In 1527 Henry wanted a divorce from his 
wife, Catherine of Aragon, to marry Anne 
Boleyn. The pope refused to consent, but 
Henry was sustained in his action by public 
sentiment; not that the divorce was right, 
but that the pope had no authority in the 
matter. In 1534 the " Supremacy Act " was 
passed, making the king the head of the 
Church of England. The Reformation Par- 
liament (1529-36) brought about many 
other reforms : curtailment of ecclesiastical 
courts, prohibition of the payment of an- 
nates, of appeals to Rome, denial of the 
pope's authority to appoint bishops, and 
the suppression of the monasteries. 

The Reformation in England made grad- 
ual progress under King Edward VI. (1547- 
53), but had a short reversion under 
"Bloody Mary" (1553-58). Three hun- 
dred persons were burned during her short 
reign. Ridley, Latimer, Hooper and Cran- 
mer were victims. In Queen Elizabeth's 
reign (1558-1603) the Romanist legislation 
of Mary was repealed. The Thirty-nine 

149 



THE REFORMATION 

Articles were adopted in 1563. In this pe- 
riod the non-conformist Churches have their 
rise. 

VIII. SCOTLAND. 

From the early part of the fifteenth cen- 
tury the ideas of Wiclif and Hus were 
preached in Scotland, and several were 
burned who had the boldness to preach 
them. Patrick Hamilton, a strong leader, 
was martyred in 1528. 

John Knox (1505-1572) fled to Geneva 
(1549) and imbibed Calvinism. In 1555 
Knox returned to Scotland, and was largely 
responsible for the " covenant " which the 
Protestant nobility made to aid one another 
(1557). Knox went (1556) to Geneva, but 
returned to Edinburgh May 2, 1559, and be- 
came the acknowledged leader of the Ref- 
ormation in Scotland. In August, 1560, 
parliament established Protestantism and 
abolished Romanism. 

Andres Melville (1545-1622) was Knox's 
successor. He crystallized Scotch Presby- 
terianism. 

IX. OTHER COUNTRIES. 

1. The Reformation spread rapidly east 
to Prussia and Poland; north to Denmark, 

150 



OTHER COUNTRIES 

Norway, Sweden, and Iceland; also to Bo- 
hemia, Hungary, and Moravia. In the 
northern countries Protestantism became 
supreme; in the southern, the counter-ref- 
ormation brought about a reversion to 
Rome. 

2. France. Protestantism had no real 
chance in France. The governments of 
France and Spain were centralized and or- 
ganized, and these, being Catholic, were 
able to crush the new movement. In 1572 
was the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, when 
from 20,000 to 100,000 Protestants were 
slain in cold blood. In 1598 the Edict of 
Nantes granted toleration. This was re- 
voked in 1685. 

3. The Netherlands. The Dutch were a 
liberty-loving people, and naturally inclined 
toward Protestantism. The Spanish In- 
quisition, under the Duke of Alva, did its 
worst here ; but the Protestants, under Wil- 
liam of Orange, gained the day, and Calvin- 
ism was established. Arminius (1560-1609) 
revolted against Calvinistic election and ir- 
resistible grace. 

The five points of Calvinism and Armin- 
ianism became the basis for two schools of 
theology in Protestantism. 

151 



THE REFORMATION 

X. THE COUNTER REFORMATION 
(CATHOLIC CHURCH). 

The Council of Trent (1545) cut off all 
possibility of a reconciliation with the two 
parties — the Reformers and the Catholics. 
The Protestants aroused the Catholics to 
new activities on their part — to stop the 
abuses and bald corruptions in the Roman 
Church, and to make a campaign in aggres- 
sive as well as defensive Catholicism. Three 
things mark the strength of the Counter- 
Reformation which saved Rome and pre- 
vented Protestantism from sweeping all be- 
fore it. 

1. The Order of the Jesuits. At each 
time in the Catholic Church, when she was 
most in need, a new order came into being 
and saved her. Ignatius Loyola (1491- 
1556), the founder of the Jesuits, established 
the order on the vow of poverty, chastity, 
and obedience to the pope. The doctrines 
of the Jesuits were: (1) the end justifies 
the means. (2) Promises made with a men- 
tal reservation may be broken. (3) A dis- 
tinction between theological and philosoph- 
ical obedience. These doctrines are subver- 
sive to morality and free government. 

2. The Council of Trent strengthened the 

152 



THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 

Catholic Church by uniting their forces and 
reaffirming their doctrines. 

3. The Spanish Inquisition. Ferdinand 
and Isabella of Spain got the consent of 
Pope Sixtus IV. (1478) to establish an " In- 
quisitorial Court " to seek out and punish 
heretics. The Spanish temperament and 
fanaticism used this with such severity that 
even the pope objected, but without avail. 
Charles V., Emperor, was also King of 
Spain. He was succeeded by his son, Phil- 
ip II. 

This Spanish Inquisition was invoked by 
Pope Paul IV. to stamp out Protestantism. 
It did its work with the most bloody hor- 
rors. Protestants were sought, their prop- 
erty confiscated, and they were imprisoned, 
tortured, and burned. Especially in Span- 
ish territory was its severity felt and Prot- 
estantism crushed. 

XL THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR (1618- 
1648). 

The Peace of Augsburg (1555) was a 
truce between the Catholics and Lutherans, 
but did not protect the Calvinists. Further- 
more, the Counter-Reformation led to per- 
secutions and oppression. In 1608 was 

153 



THE REFORMATION 

formed the " Protestant Union," and the 
next year the " Catholic League." 

The Thirty Years' War had four stages. 

1. The Bohemian Period (1618-23). The 
war was provoked by the Catholics, who 
tore down a Protestant church and closed 
another. The Protestants resented this and 
rebelled. The Bohemian King Ferdinand 
became emperor, crushed the rebellion and 
almost uprooted the Reformation in Bo- 
hemia. 

2. The Danish Period (1625-1629). The 
Catholic emperor threatened the life of 
Protestantism. Christian IV., King of Den- 
mark, became the leader of the Protestants, 
with Count Mansfeld and Christian of An- 
holt. The Catholic forces were led by Tilly 
and Wallenstein. 

The military genius of Wallenstein was 
too much for the Protestant forces, which, 
in the main, lost out. The Edict of Resti- 
tution (1629) restored to the Catholics all 
that the Protestants had gained since 1555. 

3. The Swedish Period (1630-35). Gus- 
tavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, an enthu- 
siastic Protestant, came to Germany to help 
the cause. He defeated Tilly twice, and 
Wallenstein, but lost his own life (1632). 

154 



MEANING OF THE REFORMATION 

He saved the Protestant cause in Germany 
from a total overthrow. 

4. The French Period (1635-1648). The 

war would have ended had not France in- 
terfered. Richelieu was ambitious for the 
aggrandizement of France and the over- 
throw of the House of Austria. He offered 
aid to the Protestants to continue the war. 
The miserable war was carried on, more as 
a struggle for political existence and su- 
premacy than for religious differences. It 
ended with the Treaty of Westphalia 
(1648), which granted religious toleration to 
Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists. 

XII. THE MEANING OF THE REF- 
ORMATION. 

The Humanists and the Mystics prepared 
the way, religiously, by going back to the 
Bible, and gaining peace without the Ro- 
man forms, which made the Reformation 
possible. But Luther was the creative gen- 
ius that caused the Reformation. Being 
a peasant, his religion was full of supersti- 
tion. He feared the wrath of God. His 
tremendous struggles of conscience were 
to appease God's wrath. Finally he came 
to the doctrine of God's grace. Salvation is 

155 



THE REFORMATION 

nothing else than God's favor; not, as in 
Paul's case, a moral transformation through 
faith, but simply a fellowship in God's love 
and favor regardless of sins in the life. Lu- 
ther knew he was a sinner, yet held that he 
was saved, and not a mere candidate for 
salvation in the future. This present pos- 
session was possible, because it depended 
not upon his own goodness, but on God's 
grace. 

Luther thus broke entirely with the Cath- 
olic Church, which he identified with his 
own peasant religion, and set up " inner ex- 
perience " as authority, in place of the pope 
and the hierarchy. The Early Church was 
interested in the " Person of Christ " (see 
chapter III), the Mediaeval, in "man," and 
the Reformation in " salvation." This sal- 
vation rested on inner experience for its 
authority. But an external authority was 
demanded, so Luther substituted the " Bi- 
ble " for the " Church." 

The Reformation meant freedom. This 
freedom was yet to be won; first religious, 
then civil freedom. The struggle for the 
former lasted up to 1648. The latter has 
been going on ever since, reaching its cli- 
max in the French Revolution and the 

156 



QUESTIONS 

American War for Independence. The hu- 
man mind was set free from external author- 
ity — papal domination. This freedom man- 
ifested itself in many extreme forms. Re- 
ligiously, in some fanatical sects; intellec- 
tually, in rationalism and skepticism; polit- 
ically, in socialism and anarchy. All good 
things are abused. But the freedom wrought 
in the Reformation made possible our mod- 
ern civilization. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. When does modern history begin? Modern 
Church history? What three inventions influ- 
enced the new age? Describe the effect of each. 
What were the political conditions of Europe? 

2. Name six causes of the Reformation. Name 
several Humanists. 

3. Name the three periods of Luther's life. 
Name several events in each period. When did 
Luther nail up his theses? When was he at 
Worms? In the Wartburg? When did he die? 

4. Whence the name Protestant? The Augs- 
burg Confession? Why did not the Catholic 
emperors crush the reform movement? The 
peace of Augsburg? 

5. Who was the leader of the Reformation in 
Switzerland? Contrast Luther and Zwingli. 
Name three events in Zwingli's life. 

6. Who was John Calvin? Describe his life; 
his theology; his church ordinances; his influ- 
ence. 

157 



THE REFORMATION 

7. Describe the Reformation in England — its 
antecedents; Henry VIII.; "Bloody Mary"; and 
Elizabeth. 

8. Who was John Knox? Where did he get his 
theology? What church was established in Scot- 
land? 

9. Name several other countries where the 
Reformation was established. Name two events 
in France; two in the Netherlands. 

10. Name the three phases of the Counter 
Reformation. Describe each. 

11. Name the four periods of the Thirty Years' 
War. What was the treaty of Westphalia? 

12. What was Luther's idea of salvation? What 
was the basis of authority for Luther? For the 
Catholics? What was the real meaning of the 
Reformation? Name some abuses of freedom. 



158 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Church of the Brethren 

I. INTRODUCTION. 

The Protestant Reformation was with 
the masses more social, economic, and po- 
litical than religious. Soon religion fell 
back into scholasticism, of creeds and dog- 
mas, and had scarcely more vitality than it 
had before the Reformation. The Thirty 
Years' War exhausted Germany and was a 
hard blow to the religious spirit. The 
Treaty of Westphalia gave religious liberty 
to only three denominations — the Luther- 
ans, Reformed (Calvinists), and Catholics 
(1648). But the peace gave an opportunity 
for meditation and reconstruction. The Pi- 
etistic Movement was really a world move- 
ment, wherein religion became inward and 
experimental. In Germany this movement 
was led by Spener, Francke, Arnold, Hoch- 
man, and many others. We must distin- 
guish clearly between the Pietistic Move- 
ment, which was breaking out everywhere 

159 



THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN 

and resulting in a deeper religious life, and 
certain Pietistic sects which became fanatics 
and thus disgraced the whole movement. 

The Pietists tried to invigorate and spirit- 
ualize the churches which were dead and 
formal. Where this was impossible they 
withdrew from the churches and formed 
communities of their own. This was con- 
trary to the law of the treaty and caused 
persecutions from the three legalized 
churches. 

II. SCHWARZENAU. 

The persecuted Pietists sought refuge in 
Wernigerode, in the Harz Mountains, and 
in Wittgenstein, Westphalia. The county 
of Wittgenstein was divided by Ludwig I. 
into two parts, and at this time (1700) the 
southern part was ruled by Count Henry, 
who resided in the ancient castle at Laasphe. 
This castle was built in the year 800. 
Schwarzenau belongs to this section. The 
northern half of the county was ruled by 
Hedwig Sophia and her son, Ludwig Casi- 
mir, both Pietists, who lived in the castle at 
Berleburg. Berleburg and Schwarzenau 
were villages of refuge for the persecuted 
Pietists from all Europe. 

At Schwarzenau were found many 

160 



GEOGRAPHY 

Huguenots of France, among whom was 
Helene de la Place, a descendant of Coligny, 
who was murdered on St. Bartholomew's 
night. Many Quakers came here from En- 
gland, as well as refugees from all parts of 
Germany, who sought and found protection 
under the mild rule of Count Henry. 

III. GEOGRAPHY. 

Wittgenstein is a mountainous district 
between the Rhein and Weser River sys- 
tems. Near the southwest border is the 
source of the Eder River (2,100 feet), which 
flows through the county and empties into 
the Weser; and also of the Lahn, which 
flows into the Rhein. The mountains are 
covered with dense forests, and the valleys 
are cultivated. This land is secluded, far 
removed from the streams of commerce and 
the worldliness of civilization. 

Schwarzenau is situated on the Eder, 
beautifully nestled between the mountains, 
in one of the quietest and most secluded 
corners of Germany. Nature and nature's 
God are the objects of communion and com- 
panionship. Even the rulers of this quiet 
and sequestered spot are pious and religious 
instead of worldly, as is the custom among 
their class. 

161 



THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN 

IV. THE PIETISTS OF SCHWARZ- 
ENAU. 

In the archives at Laasphe are five letters, 
written by the daughter of Count Henry, 
who lived at Schwarzenau, describing the 
life and habits of these people. She writes, 
" They spend their time in Bible study, in 
prayer, and in deeds of kindness and char- 
ity." Count Henry testifies that they were 
the best Christians that he ever saw, and the 
most peaceful citizens in Germany. 

V. THE BRETHREN. 

Bible study and prayer convinced some 
of them that the will of the Lord could not 
be carried out unless they organized them- 
selves into a church. Alexander Mack, their 
leader, describes the origin of the church in 
the following words : " Finally, in the year 
1708, eight persons entered into a covenant 
with each other, with the help of God, to 
endeavor to attain to the answer of a good 
conscience by rendering obedience to all the 
commands of the Lord Jesus and to follow 
him as their Good Shepherd and Leader 
through good and evil report. Those eight 
persons, of whom five were brethren and 
three sisters [the names of the brethren 

162 



THE BRETHREN 

were as follows: George Graby and Lucas 
Fetter, of Hesse Cassel; Alexander Mack, 
of Schriesheim, in the Palatinate; Andrew 
Bony, of Basle, in Switzerland; and John 
Kipping, of Nuerenburg; and the names of 
the sisters were Joanna Bony, Anna Mar- 
garetta Mack, and Joanna Kipping], cov- 
enanted with each other as brethren and 
sisters under the cross of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, to dwell together in the unity of 
faith as a society. By consulting history 
they found that the primitive Christians, in 
the first and second centuries, uniformly 
were, according to the command of Christ, 
planted info the likeness of his death, by a 
baptism in water by a threefold immersion. 
Not resting their faith, however, upon the 
authority of history, they searched the 
Scriptures of the New Testament and, find- 
ing explicit testimony to that import, they 
became desirous of practicing a means so 
strongly recommended by the example of 
our Lord, and emphatically enjoined by his 
written precept, believing that it became 
them thus to fulfill all righteousness." 

The question of baptism was important. 
Their leader traveled over Germany and 
studied the history of the subject. The 

163 



THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN 

conclusion of the mode was evident — trine 
immersion. The little company wanted 
Mack to be their minister and to baptize 
them. But he desired to be baptized first. 
They prayed and fasted and then cast lots 
to determine which of the four brethren 
should baptize Mack. The name has been 
kept secret, " that no one might take occa- 
sion to call the society by the name of any 
man, as was the case with the Corinthian 
Church." 

" The crisis for the camp to move for- 
ward was now arrived ; they were now made 
willing in the day of the Lord's power. 
Accordingly they went out in the morning 
to a stream called the Eder, and there, he 
upon whom the lot had fallen, baptized the 
brother who had discovered so great anxi- 
ety to submit to that ordinance; this being 
done he was now acknowledged as duly 
qualified ; he baptized him first by whom he 
had been baptized, and the remaining three 
brethren and three sisters; thus were the 
eight, at an early hour in the morning, bap- 
tized in the water by trine immersion." 
(Preface to " Rites and Ordinances," by 
Alexander Mack, ed. 1810.) 

164 



GROWTH OF THE CHURCH 

VI. THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH. 

The new church was so active in the work 
of testimony and Bible study that in the 
short space of seven years their society be- 
came numerous, not only at Schwarzenau, 
but also in the Palatinate and in the Rhein 
Valley. A society was formed at Marien- 
born, where all the Brethren of the Palati- 
nate finally gathered because of severe per- 
secution. 

Persecutions continued, so that the 
church at Marienborn was compelled to 
move, and they all went to Krefeld, in 
Prussia, about thirty miles northwest of 
Cologne, near the border of Holland. Mis- 
sionaries were sent in every direction, who 
did splendid work converting souls, but 
persecutions drove them all back to Krefeld 
and Schwarzenau. Some of the Brethren 
were beaten, some were imprisoned, and 
one, Christian Liebe, was forced to serve 
on the galleys with hardened criminals. 
These persecutions were endured with won- 
derful heroism, patience, and unsullied faith 
and loyalty to the church. The Church of 
the Brethren was born out of Bible-study, 
prayer, and the fiery trials of inhuman per- 
secutions. 

165 



THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN 

VII. MIGRATIONS. 

In the year 1719 Peter Becker, with about 
forty families, left Krefeld and came to 
America, settling in Germantown, Pa., and 
vicinity. 

The same year, at Easter, the soldiers at 
Schwarzen.au came to the Brethren and by 
force wrested the babes from their mothers' 
arms, and took them to the State Church at 
Arfeldt and had them sprinkled. About the 
same time a suit was brought against Count 
Henry by his cousin at Wetzlar, because 
Henry was allowing the Brethren (die 
Tauefer) to remain in his territory against 
the law of the Treaty of Westphalia. No 
doubt Henry told the Brethren his predica- 
ment, that he could no longer protect them. 
So in 1720 the Church at Schwarzenau, 
about forty families, migrated to Wester- 
•vain, West Friesland, in the north of 
Holland, west of the Zuider Zee. A letter 
of Henry to the authorities at Wetzlar, de- 
fending himself, states that he did not have 
" godless " people in his territory, but the 
best Christians that he ever saw. But they 
had just left the country, about forty fam- 
ilies, and no one was left except Lutherans, 
Reformed, and Catholics. 

166 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA 

The Brethren left Westervain in 1729, and 
under the leadership of Alexander Mack 
they came to Germantown, Pa. 

VIII. THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 

The Brethren who came from Krefeld 
with Peter Becker settled in Germantown 
and in the valley of the Schuylkill. At 
first no church was organized. In 1723 a 
false report went abroad, that Elder Chris- 
tian Liebe, the greatest orator of the Church 
in Germany, had landed in Philadelphia. 
The Brethren from the valley came to the 
city with their neighbors and friends. Al- 
though disappointed in not finding Liebe, 
they were invited into the home of Peter 
Becker, and a friendship was formed that 
bore fruit. The Brethren of Germantown 
made a return visit, which resulted in six 
conversions. At Christmas, 1723, these six 
converts, the " first fruits " of the Church 
in America, applied for baptism. Peter 
Becker baptized them in the Wissahickon 
Creek in Germantown. The same Christ- 
mas evening they held the first love feast in 
America in the house of John Gomorry. 
There were seventeen members residing in 
Germantown, who with the six new ones 
celebrated this feast together. The church 

167 



THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN 

was also formally organized on that day. 
Peter Becker was made elder and had 
charge of the church. 

The coming of Mack and the Brethren in 
1729 greatly strengthened the cause in Ger- 
mantown. 

IX. MISSIONARY ENDEAVORS. 

In 1724 a missionary party of seven horse- 
men and seven footmen, Peter Becker being 
leader, left their industries and homes in 
Germantown and traveled over the sur- 
rounding counties to preach the Gospel. 
They visited the scattered Brethren, held 
meetings and love feasts in their homes, and 
baptized the new converts. Martin Urner, 
the first convert in America, lived at Cov- 
entry, near Pottstown. At his home a meet- 
ing and love feast were held, and a church 
was organized — the second in America — 
with Martin Urner as minister, November 
7, 1724. 

Five days later, in the home of Heinrich 
Hoehn, in the Pequea Valley, another meet- 
ing was held, which resulted in seven con- 
versions, the last of whom was Conrad Beis- 
sel. A few days later two more were bap- 
tized. These were formed into the Cones- 
toga congregation, with Beissel as preacher. 

168 



HERESY AND SCHISM 
X. HERESY AND SCHISM. 

Conrad Beissel had a checkered career in 
Germany and had many peculiar views on 
religion. Although baptized in 1724 by Pe- 
ter Becker, and made minister of the Cones- 
toga congregation, he soon began to preach 
his strange doctrines. He was Jewish in 
holding to the Sabbath, or seventh day, in- 
stead of the Lord's Day; he was a mystic, 
he believed in celibacy, and the life of the 
cloister. In 1728 the crisis came ; the Cones- 
toga church was divided. He chose seven 
— the Jewish sabbatic number — whom he 
baptized thrice backward, to return the bap- 
tism to the Brethren which they received 
from Becker, then forward, to initiate them 
into the new faith — a faith not unlike the 
Essenes of the Jews. Beissel founded a 
monastery at Ephrata, Pa., and used all his 
ingenuity and tireless efforts to destroy the 
Brethren congregations and to make prose- 
lytes from other churches. 

The Ephrata Society was founded in 1732. 
It was under Beissel's management and in- 
fluence. Three classes of persons composed 
the society: the married people, the unmar- 
ried brothers, or monks, and the virgins or 
sisters. 

169 



THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN 

In 1738-9 there was an exodus from Ger- 
mantown to Ephrata, largely brought about 
by the visions and mysticism of Stephen 
Koch, who aroused an interest in this mys- 
tic life as a higher type of godliness. The 
various congregations of the Brethren lost 
heavily through this spiritistic, mystical, 
and monastic fanaticism. 

XL OTHER CHURCHES OF THE 
BRETHREN. 

We have already mentioned the founding 
of the Coventry and the Conestoga congre- 
gations in 1724. In 1733 the Great Swamp 
congregation was organized in Bucks Coun- 
ty, and the Amwell church in New Jersey. 
The Oley congregation had members as 
early as 1732, when Peter Becker held serv- 
ices there. The White Oak congregation, 
of Lancaster County, Pa., was organized in 
1736; the Little Conewago church in 1738, 
and the Conewago church in 1741, both of 
York County, Pa. In 1752 was founded the 
Great Swatara congregation, and the Little 
Swatara in 1757. The Northkill church in 
Berks County, Pa., about fifteen miles from 
Reading, came into existence about 1748. 
Near York, Pa., the Codorus congregation, 

170 



LEADERS IN THE CHURCH 

made up largely of emigrants from the east- 
ern churches, was organized about 1758. 
About the middle of the century some 
Brethren crossed the Alleghanies to Broth- 
ers Valley, in Somerset County, Pa. From 
here they went to Stony Creek, Bedford 
County, where the church was organized 
soon after 1762. In 1760 the church was be- 
gun in Middletown Valley, Md., and in 1780 
in Daleville, Va., and at Flat Rock, Shen- 
andoah Co., about five years earlier. 

XII. LEADERS IN THE CHURCH OF 
THE BRETHREN. 

1. Alexander Mack. Alexander Mack was 
the founder of the Church of the Brethren, 
in that he was the leader, baptizer, and 
minister of the small group of eight persons 
who covenanted together to restore apos- 
tolic Christianity in Schwarzenau in 1708, 
and to promote the kingdom of God and his 
glory. Mack was in the fullest sense the 
" restorer " of apostolic Christianity by go- 
ing to the New Testament and to history to 
find the truth of the Gospel and the practice 
of the early Church, and making these the 
only creed of the Church. 

Mack was born in 1689, at Schriesheim, 

171 



THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN 

Germany, of good parents who had wealth 
and great piety. He was a great evangelist 
and leader. His wise counsel seems always 
to have been respected, and his superb 
Christian character held in the highest es- 
teem. His wealth was spent in charity and 
his whole life was devoted to the cause of 
the kingdom. When the persecutions com- 
pelled them to leave Schwarzenau he led 
his flock to Holland, and later to German- 
town, Pa. Here he spent his last days, and 
died February 19, 1735. His body now lies 
in the Brethren cemetery back of the church 
in Germantown. 

2. Johannes Naas. Elder Naas was an 
eloquent preacher and had great influence 
in the Church, next to Mack. He joined the 
Church in Marienborn and migrated with 
the Church to Krefeld, where he was elder 
of the congregation. He suffered great 
persecutions, especially by the officers of 
the government, who tried to force him, be- 
cause of his great stature and fine physique, 
to join the king's guard. He endured all 
kinds of torture, but he declared that he had 
enlisted in the services of his King, Jesus 
Christ, and he resolved to be loyal to his 
Master. The King of Prussia honored him 

172 



LEADERS IN THE CHURCH 

for his loyalty and sent him away with a 
reward. 

When Christian Liebe caused factions in 
the church at Krefeld, Elder Naas showed 
the highest Christian charity and forbear- 
ance. He came to America in 1733. His 
missionary work in the Rhein Valley de- 
serves widespread recognition. His elo- 
quence, his zeal, and his piety are a rich in- 
heritance to posterity. 

3. Peter Becker. Peter Becker was a 
minister in Krefeld, who became the leader 
of the migration of forty families, 200 per- 
sons, to Germantown in 1719. He was born 
in Dillsheim, Germany, in 1687, joined the 
Church in Krefeld in 1714, and died in Skip- 
pack, Pa., in 1758. 

Becker was an expert weaver and had 
Conrad Beissel in his home a year as ap- 
prentice. He was ordained elder on Christ- 
mas, 1723, when the church in Germantown 
was formally organized. The same day he 
baptized the six new converts, the " first 
fruits " in America, and presided at the first 
love feast that same eventful evening. He 
was a wise elder, a good counselor, and 
during the trying times of the Beissel 
schism, he directed the Church with rare 

173 



THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN 

patience and statesmanship. Becker was 
an enthusiastic missionary, and organized 
the churches at Coventry and Conestoga in 
1724. He was not an eloquent preacher, but 
he was fervent in prayer, and in song, and 
exemplary in the Christian life. 

4. Alexander Mack, Jr., was born in 
Schwarzenau January 25, 1712, and was 
baptized in Holland in 1728, the year before 
he came to America. His religious earnest- 
ness made him susceptible to the mysticism 
of Koch, who induced him to go with him 
to the Wissahickon, where they lived for a 
year in a hut in pious prayer and meditation. 
In 1738 he went with Koch to Ephrata, but 
in 1748 we find him back in Germantown in 
full fellowship with the Brethren, who 
placed upon Mack and Christopher Saur 
the oversight of the church. From now on 
he gave fifty-five years of continuous, loyal, 
and efficient service to the Church of the 
Brethren. Mack was fully ordained elder 
June 10, 1753. He was one of the greatest 
writers of colonial America, having a large 
correspondence, as well as the writer of 
many pamphlets and a great number of 
poems and hymns. He died March 20, 
1803. 

174 



LEADERS IN THE CHURCH 

5. Christopher Saur, the printer, was in 
every sense a leader of the early Brethren. 
He was born in Laasphe, Wittgenstein, in 
Westphalia, Germany. Here is the castle of 
Count Henry, whose sovereignty extended 
over Schwarzenau. There is some circum- 
stantial evidence that he moved to Berle- 
burg, where we have a record of Saur fam- 
ilies, some of whom were printers. Saur's 
press later on came from Berleburg. 

Saur came to America in 1724 with his 
wife and son, and finally settled in German- 
town. He was a man of great versatility. 
An early record says of him, " Saur is a very 
ingenious man. He is a separatist, who has 
become dexterous in at least thirty trades; 
for, having come over to America as a tailor, 
he has since become a printer, apothecary, 
surgeon, botanist, clock and watchmaker, 
cabinet maker, book binder, newspaper 
maker, manufacturer of his own tools, wire 
and lead drawer, paper maker, etc., etc." 
(Quoted from Brumbaugh.) 

In 1731 he built a large house, 60 x 60 
feet, which was used for the Brethren meet- 
inghouse. In 1738 he received his printing 
outfit from Berleburg. The same year he 
printed an almanac, and soon developed a 

175 



THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN 

large printing business. In 1743 he pub- 
lished the first edition of the Bible — the first 
Bible in a European tongue printed in 
America. Two other editions of the Bible 
followed this, in 1763 and 1776. Saur also 
printed the first German newspaper in 
America, August 20, 1739. He died in 1758, 
and the work was then carried on by his 
son. 

6. Christopher Saur, Jr., wrote in his 
diary, " I was born on the 26th of Septem- 
ber, 1721, in the town of Laasphe, in Witt- 
genstein, about six hours from Marburg." 
He came to America with his parents in 
1724, went with them to Lancaster County, 
Pa., and returned to Germantown in 1731. 
At the age of fifteen he became a member 
of the Church of the Brethren. " I was born 
anew through holy baptism on the 24th of 
February, 1737." Ten years after this he 
was elected deacon, and a year later he was 
called to the ministry and received the joint 
oversight of the church with the younger 
Mack. Five years later he was fully or- 
dained to the eldership. 

At the death of the elder Saur, Christo- 
pher, Jr., became proprietor of the estate 
and manager of the printing business. He 

176 



LEADERS IN THE CHURCH 

continued the publications, which had now 
become one of the greatest factors in our 
colonial civilization. He published the sec- 
ond and third editions of the Bible (1763 
and 1776), and the first religious magazine 
in America, called " Geistliche Magazin." 

Holding firmly to the non-resisting and 
non-swearing principles of the Brethren, he 
was persecuted and most shamefully treated 
during the Revolutionary War, and his 
property was confiscated. His opposition 
to slavery also made him enemies. But his 
Christian fortitude and patience through evil 
days are unsurpassed in the annals of Chris- 
tendom. He had a family of nine children. 
He died August 26, 1784. 

The sources for the Church of the Breth- 
ren have been my own study of the Pietistic 
Movement in Marburg, Germany; my re- 
searches in the archives at Laasphe ; and for 
the Church in America I had to rely entirely 
on the work of others, Dr. Brumbaugh's 
" History of the Brethren," and also the 
work of Elder G. N. Falkenstein, and " Two 
Centuries of the Brethren." These works 
must be consulted for a full treatment of 
the subject. 

177 



THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN 



QUESTIONS. 

1. Describe the Pietistic Movement; sects. Why- 
were they persecuted? 

2. Where did these persecuted Pietists go for 
refuge? Whence did they come? 

3. Describe the natural features of Schwarzenau. 
What effect does nature have on religion? 

4. Describe the piety of the people at Schwarz- 
enau. 

5. Describe the beginning of the Church of the 
Brethren. Who was their leader? What was the 
year? What was their creed? 

6. Tell of the growth of the Church in Ger- 
many. What were their experiences? 

7. Describe the migrations of the Church. 

8. What three things happened in German- 
town, Pa., December 25, 1723? 

9. Describe the missionary activities of the 
Church in America. 

10. Describe the Ephrata movement. Who 
were Beissel and Koch? 

11. Name some of the early churches founded 
by the Brethren. 

12. Name six leaders of the Church of the 
Brethren. Tell of their zeal, their piety, deeds, 
and character. 



178 



CHAPTER X. 



From Kant to the Present, 1780 

A. D. 

I. INTRODUCTION. 

In the year 1780 Immanuel Kant, the 
great philosopher, published his " Critique 
of Pure Reason." This meant a new era in 
philosophy, and simultaneous changes in 
political, social, scientific, and religious 
thinking. 

Politically, nations were struggling for 
civil liberty. America was in the throes of 
the Revolution. France was about to storm 
the Bastille and begin the reign of terror. 
All Europe was in commotion through the 
Napoleonic wars — the birth-pangs of civil 
rights. Greece got her independence from 
Turkey in 1831. Germany was consolidated 
under William I. in 1870. France became a 
republic. Italy the same year became a 
nation. All civilized nations made strides 
toward constitutional governments. 

Science was set free, and the astronomers, 
179 



FROM KANT TO THE PRESENT 

the geologists, the biologists revolutionized 
man's view of the world. In 1859 appeared 
Darwin's " Origin of Species," which at- 
tempted to prove scientifically what Kant 
had already taught — the law of evolution. 

Philosophy was forced by the skepticism 
of the eighteenth century to reexamine its 
foundations and tenets. Everything was 
criticised, reexamined, and studied in the 
light of science and history. All history 
was rewritten from the new point of view. 
The nineteenth century produced a new 
race of historians, who wrote our classic 
histories of Greece, Rome, France, Holland, 
England, America, and of the Christian 
Church. Education was made popular and 
general. 

Japan was opened (1854) to the civiliza- 
tion of the West and was literally born 
again. China has been awakened from her 
long sleep by a century of missionary 
prayers and endeavors. 

Science and invention, during this period, 
gave the world the steamboat, the railroad, 
the telegraph, the telephone, all electrical 
appliances, the airship, modern warships, 
the development of international diplomacy; 
and thus time and space have been eliminat- 

180 



MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE 

ed and the world has been brought together 
as a family. We cannot understand the his- 
tory of the Church nor her present problems 
without a clear vision of life as a whole. 

II. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

The Roman Church has largely taken the 
attitude of opposition to this rapid advance 
in culture. Nevertheless, the Church has 
grown rapidly, and has become better or- 
ganized and narrower in her theological 
thinking. Three principal things mark the 
changes in the Catholic Church: (1) Oppo- 
sition to the use of Bibles by the masses, 
and to the reading of modern scientific liter- 
ature; (2) the proclamation of the dogma 
of the " Immaculate Conception " by Pope 
Pius IX. in 1854; and (3) the dogma of the 
" Infallibility of the Pope," which was pro- 
claimed at the twentieth and last GEcumeni- 
cal Council in 1870. The pope considers 
himself a prisoner in the Vatican, because 
the so-called " Papal States " are now gov- 
erned by the King of Italy against the will 
of the pope. 

III. MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 

This epoch is the greatest missionary ep- 
och since the first century of the Christian 

181 



FROM KANT TO THE PRESENT 

Church. Before 1780 there were only a few 
missionary societies; viz., the Christian 
Faith Society for the West Indies, 1691 ; 
the Society for the Promotion of Christian 
Knowledge, 1698; the Society for the Pro- 
motion of the Gospel, 1701 ; and the Mora- 
vian Missionary Society, 1732. 

Through the influence of Carey, the Bap- 
tist Missionary Society was founded in 
1792. Then followed in rapid succession 
the London Missionary Society, 1795 ; the 
Scottish Society, 1796; the Church Mission- 
ary Society, 1799; the Religious Tract So- 
ciety, the same year; the British and For- 
eign Bible Society in 1804; the London So- 
ciety for the Promotion of Christianity 
Among the Jews, 1808; the American Board 
of Foreign Missions (Congregational), .1810; 
Wesleyan Missionary Society, 1813 ; Gen- 
eral Baptist, 1817; American Bible Society, 
1816; the Methodist Episcopal Church Mis- 
sionary Society, 1819; the Presbyterian 
Church in the United States, 1837. 

Today there are over a hundred large so- 
cieties and several hundred smaller ones en- 
gaged in the propagation of the Gospel 
among the heathen and the needy. The 
missionary work has developed along all 

182 



DENOMINATIONS 

lines and has for practical purposes sub- 
divided itself into: (1) Evangelistic, the 
preaching of the Word; (2) educational, 
teaching the children and the natives in the 
schools and colleges; (3) literary, the dis- 
tribution of Bibles, tracts, and religious lit- 
erature with the hope that the truth will 
make its own appeal; (4) medical, the estab- 
lishment of hospitals and dispensaries, and 
the visiting of physicians and nurses to al- 
leviate human suffering; (5) and in some 
places the industrial work, teaching the na- 
tives a useful trade, especially the building 
arts. The one aim in all these efforts is to 
bring men TO CHRIST, and to build them 
up IN CHRIST. It is also recognized that 
the principal work of the missionary is to 
train the native pastors who will eventually 
do the work of evangelizing. 

The nineteenth century has opened the 
doors of the world to the missionary enter- 
prise. The successes have been, inspiring, 
but the task yet remaining challenges the 
faith and energy of the Church. 

IV. DENOMINATIONS. 

The Reformation brought forth several 
denominations — Lutheran, Reformed, Pres- 

183 



FROM KANT TO THE PRESENT 

byterian, the Church of England (Protest- 
ant Episcopal in America), and the Ana- 
baptist sects of Switzerland, which were 
the forerunners of the Mennonites and the 
Baptists. These last also greatly influenced 
the Separatists of a later day. The Congre- 
gational church grew out of the Puritans, 
who separated themselves from the Church 
of England about 1580 under the leadership 
of Robert Browne. They became Pilgrims 
to Holland, came to America in the May- 
flower in 1620, and have remained the dom- 
inant church in New England. In 1805 a 
number of Congregational churches, to- 
gether with Harvard University, formed 
the Unitarian Church. 

The Friends began with the preaching of 
George Fox in 1647. Because of severe per- 
secutions they fled to Holland, Germany, 
and America. William Penn founded the 
colony of Pennsylvania, which became an 
asylum for kindred spirits, especially the 
Mennonites, who came to Germantown in 
1683, and the Brethren who came in 1719. 

The Methodist Church was founded by 
John Wesley, whose movement for a deep- 
er spiritual life began in 1729. John and 
Charles Wesley and George Whitefield were 

184 



THEOLOGY OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 

ordained ministers in the Church of En- 
gland, who had no thought of leaving their 
church, but they tried to attain greater holi- 
ness and spiritualize the church. Wesley 
declared on his death bed that he had lived 
and would die a member of the Church of 
England. But the movement which he in- 
augurated was not incorporated by the 
church, and thus it became a separate 
church. The Methodist Church in America 
has seventeen branches and numbers (1910) 
over six and a half millions. The Baptists 
(fifteen bodies) number about a million less. 
The Lutherans in America (twenty-three 
bodies) have two and a quarter millions; 
the Presbyterians (twelve bodies) number 
about two millions; the Disciples of Christ 
have one and one half millions. 

V. THEOLOGY OF THE NINE- 
TEENTH CENTURY. 

The new point of view in philosophy and 
history, the skepticism of the eighteenth 
century, and the new science compelled in- 
novations in theology. 

1. Germany. In Germany, Schleiermacher 
did most to bring men of culture back to 
religion, and to define religion in a skeptical 

185 



FROM KANT TO THE PRESENT 

age. He held that religion is based on the 
feelings and is therefore independent of 
philosophy. All higher culture, music, art, 
and poetry are based on the feelings, and 
therefore have a religious foundation. Schlei- 
ermacher's personal magnetism, his elo- 
quence, and his great scholarship made him 
the pathfinder of a new era in theology. 

Strauss published his " Life of Christ " in 
1835. His conclusions were untenable, for 
he held that Jesus was a myth, that he did 
not really live as the Gospels picture him. 
Strauss held further that we do not need 
this historic Christ for religion, but only 
the ideas which we possess in the Gospels. 
The danger of this teaching was in the 
claim that a careful study of the Scriptures 
would substantiate his theory. This forced 
the theological world to make a critical 
study of the Bible to defend its truths. Thus 
the " critical," or scientific study of the Bi- 
ble was launched. 

The Ritschlian theology of Germany at- 
tempted, like Schleiermacher, to make re- 
ligion independent of philosophy and meta- 
physics, and base it on experience. This 
opened the way to the most critical study 
of the Bible while retaining religious piety. 

186 



THEOLOGY OF NINETEENTH CENTURY 

This school has had a great influence in 
Germany, England and America. 

2. England. Samuel Taylor Coleridge 
(1772-1834) studied in Germany and 
brought to England the broader theology 
prevailing there. The Broad Church Move- 
ment attempted to be up to date in the phil- 
osophic thought of the day, and so to em- 
phasize the vital and fundamental doctrines 
of religion only so as to make the Church 
broad enough to include all evangelical 
Christians, regardless of their doctrinal 
points of view. The greatest men of this 
movement were Richard Whately (1787- 
1863), Thomas Arnold (1795-1842), F. D. 
Maurice (1805-1872), Charles Kingsley 
(1819-1875), A. P. Stanley (1815-1881), H. 
H. Milman (1791-1868), F. W. Robertson 
(1816-1863), F. W. Farrar (1831-1903). This 
Broad Church Party strongly emphasized 
social improvement and practical religion. 

The Low Church Party also was a re- 
action against the ecclesiasticism of the 
High Church and was characterized by its 
evangelistic interest in contrast to the theo- 
logical or sacramental. It sought to accom- 
plish fruit in the everyday lives of men. 
The leaders were William Romaine, John 

187 



FROM KANT TO THE PRESENT 

Newton, Robert Cecil, Thomas Scott, Wil- 
liam Wilberforce, and William Cowper, the 
poet. 

The Oxford Movement was an Anglo- 
Catholic movement, a reaction against the 
Broad Church and the new theology. It is 
also called the " Tractarian Movement," be- 
cause of the tracts that were written to 
propagate the cause. The leaders of the 
movement were Keble, Froude, Church, 
Newman, and Pusey. In 1841 Newman 
published " Tract Number Ninety," which 
tried to prove that the Church of England 
was a part of the Roman Catholic Church. 
This brought forth the crisis which caused 
the separation of many who went over to 
the Roman Church. John Henry Newman 
was no doubt the greatest of the leaders. 
His problem was largely the question of 
authority, which he could not find in the 
TRUTH as revealed in the Scriptures and 
in reason, which he distrusted, but in the 
pope. He became a cardinal in the Roman 
Church, and was followed by Manning. " In 
1852 Oxford lost ninety-two members, sixty- 
three of whom were divines; Cambridge 
lost forty-three, nineteen of whom were 
divines. In 1862 the number had increased 

188 



THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

to 867, of whom 243 were divines. It in- 
cluded almost exclusively persons of note — 
military men and nobles, members of Par- 
liament and men in the professions." (Mon- 
crief, p. 441.) 

3. America. In the eighteenth century 
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) and his suc- 
cessors preached Calvinism in its extreme 
form — infant damnation, the wrath of an 
angry God, and predestination. In the nine- 
teenth century a new epoch of New England 
theology was ushered in by Horace Bush- 
nell (1802-1876). Bushnell opposed the 
Edwardian theology and upheld the freedom 
of the will in religion as well as in politics. 
As opposed to infant corruption until a re- 
vival-conversion, he advocated " Christian 
nurture," which brings up the child from the 
beginning as belonging to God, so that it 
never knows any different. Against the tri- 
theism of the orthodoxy of the day, he in- 
terpreted the trinity as a moral and spiritual 
triunity. Over against a mediaeval scho- 
lasticism of dry theologies, he advocated a 
religion of the Spirit and of life. 

VI. THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

This period has seen the development of 
the Sunday-school from mere beginnings 

189 



FROM KANT TO THE PRESENT 

to its present position of influence and 
power. 

The first Sunday-school in the world, 
along modern lines, was established by the 
Church of the Brethren in Germantown, 
Pa., in 1738. Two years later a school was 
started in Ephrata, Pa. In 1744 Christopher 
Saur, in Germantown, published Sunday- 
school cards for the children, containing ap- 
propriate verses. 

In 1780 Robert Raikes, in England, gath- 
ered the children off the streets of his city 
and hired teachers to instruct them on Sun- 
day in reading, writing, spelling, and the 
catechism. Raikes was an editor, and con- 
sequently published the work of his school 
in his paper, the " Gloucester Journal. " The 
papers of London took up the matter and 
popularized it. The idea was taken up and 
widely adopted by the churches. 

On January 11, 1791, in Philadelphia, a 
society was formed for the " institution and 
support of First Day or Sunday-schools." 
Several Sunday-school unions were formed 
in Philadelphia and New York in 1816 and 
1817. On May 24, 1824, the "American Sun- 
day-school Union " was formed. The first 
national convention of this Union met in 

190 



THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN 

New York in 1832. In 1872 the National 
Convention of the American Sunday-school 
Union adopted the uniform lesson system. 
In 1875 the convention became international 
in scope. The first " World's Sunday-school 
Convention " was held in London in 1889. 
The statistics for the seventh world's con- 
vention (1913) shows the Sunday-school in 
205 nations, provinces, or islands. The to- 
tal enrollment is 28,701,489. The Sunday- 
schools number 297,866; officers and teach- 
ers, 2,624,896; scholars all ages, 26,076,593. 

VII. THE CHURCH OF THE BRETH- 
REN. 

After the Revolutionary War the Breth- 
ren migrated westward into the new terri- 
tory that was opened to settlement. Most 
of the new churches were founded by the 
colonization method. In recent years this 
has been done extensively in Oklahoma, the 
Dakotas, and western Canada. 

Three great factors have been developed 
in the Church of the Brethren during the 
last half of the nineteenth century — the pub- 
lishing, the educational, and the missionary 
interests. 

Before 1850 Elder Henry Kurtz, recogniz- 

191 



FROM KANT TO THE PRESENT 

ing the fact that the church could make no 
permanent progress without the help of the 
press, urged the publication of a church pa- 
per. The first copy of his " Monthly Gos- 
pel Visitor" appeared April 1, 1851. Five 
years afterwards Elder James Quinter was 
associated with Elder Kurtz. In rapid suc- 
cession other papers came before the pub- 
lic with varied success. 

The " Pilgrim " appeared January 1, 1870, 
published by Elders J. B. and H. B. Brum- 
baugh, of Huntingdon, Pa. This was con- 
solidated with the " Primitive Christian," 
the successor of the " Gospel Visitor," and 
thus formed the " Primitive Christian and 
Pilgrim." 

" Der Briiderbote " was started by Lewis A. 
Plate in 1875. Elder J. T. Myers joined him 
and the paper was printed part English and 
part German, and called " Brethren's Messen- 
ger." This English part was moved to Lanark, 
111., in 1876, and published thereafter under 
the name "Brethren at Work," by J. H. 
Moore, J. T. Myers and M. M. Eshelman. 
This was consolidated with the " Primitive 
Christian " in 1883, and called " The Gospel 
Messenger." 

192 



CHURCH UNION AND UNITY 

The educational development of this same 
period was no less remarkable. In 1861 
Elder S. Z. Sharp opened a school at Kisha- 
coquillas, Pa., which was truly the forerun- 
ner of later schools and colleges. On April 
17, 1876, Juniata College was founded at 
Huntingdon, Pa., by Prof. Zuck. Mt. Mor- 
ris College began in 1879; Bridgewater in 
1880; McPherson in 1887; Daleville in 1890; 
Lordsburg in 1891 ; North Manchester in 
1895; Elizabethtown in 1898; Blue Ridge in 
1899; and Bethany Bible School in 1905. 
Other schools have been started and have 
discontinued. Their multiplicity shows the 
rapid development of interest in education. 

The first foreign missionary went to Den- 
mark in 1876. The larger foreign mission- 
ary enterprise began in 1894, when Elder 
W. B. Stover and wife went to India. The 
work was started in Bulsar in 1895. It has 
developed so that now (1913) there are nine 
stations, fifty-eight sub-stations, six organ 
ized churches, 1,125 members, 140 native 
workers, eighty-one village schools with an 
enrollment of 1,425 pupils. 

The Brethren began mission work in Chi- 
na in 1908 in the Shansi Province. This 
work is being enlarged annually, and the 

193 



FROM KANT TO THE PRESENT 

outlook is encouraging. The entire mission- 
ary force under the control of the General 
Mission Board numbers about sixty. 

VIII. CHURCH UNION AND UNITY. 

The nineteenth century experienced many 
divisions of churches into new denomina- 
tions. Some of these divisions were caused 
by the Civil War; others, through personal 
ambitions, theological differences, and re- 
ligious peculiarities. There have been for 
the last two decades much effort and agita- 
tion to bring about " church union." No 
progress has been made in lessening the 
number of denominations, but great ad- 
vances have been made in unity of spirit, 
and cooperation in moral and social endeav- 
ors. Sunday-school and missionary con- 
ventions have done much to unite all evan- 
gelical bodies into a unity of spirit, thus 
emphasizing their agreements rather than 
their differences. While church unity, not 
union, has been gaining ground, neverthe- 
less each denomination seems to reempha- 
size its own peculiar doctrines, thinking 
thus to do most to enrich the religious life 
as a whole. 

The Church of the Brethren suffered a 
loss in 1881-1882 by the separation of about 

194 



CONCLUSION 

8,000 members — the Progressive and the 
Old Order Brethren. The former have been 
growing and have now about 20,000 mem- 
bers. They also own the college at Ash- 
land, Ohio. The Old Order Brethren have 
been losing ground. They have no colleges, 
Sunday-schools, or missions. 

IX. CONCLUSION. 

The study of Church history shows the 
constant power of the Gospel of Christ to 
transform human life, and at the same time 
it shows the weakness of humanity to ap- 
propriate this Gospel and propagate it in 
its purity throughout the world. Lessing 
once said, " Christianity has been a failure, 
but the religion of Jesus Christ has never 
been tried.' , Christianity has not been a 
failure, although the Church as an organiza- 
tion, whose duty it was to incarnate the re- 
ligion of Jesus Christ, has many blots upon 
her record. Nevertheless the true historian 
must recognize that the Church has always 
represented the highest ethics and ideals of 
life that were taught in that particular age. 
The Church has also fostered education, 
and almost all the schools in Christendom 
were founded through her influence. The 
individuals of the Church have fallen far 

195 



FROM KANT TO THE PRESENT 

short of the ethics set for them, but the 
Church has always preached a sinless Christ 
as the Way, the Truth,- and the Life. 

The history of the last nineteen centuries 
would be an insoluble enigma without a 
knowledge of the history of the Church. In 
fact, for many centuries the history of the 
Church is the history of Europe. Our pres- 
ent creeds, forms, practices, and standards 
of life can only be understood in the light 
of their historic origin and development. 
We must know history to understand our 
present duty ; but we should be free to apply 
the truth to our own age, untrammeled by 
the icy hand of the past, which too oft 
throttles the living present and the unborn 
future. 

QUESTIONS. 

1. What event marks the opening of this era? 
What kind of changes were taking place in pub- 
lic thought? 

2. Name three changes in the Roman Church 
during this period. 

3. Describe the progress of missionary en- 
deavors. What kinds of missionary work are 
done on the fields? 

4. What denominations existed at the close of 
the Reformation? Name some denominations 
that came into being since the Reformation. 

196 



QUESTIONS 

5. Who was the leader of theological thought 
in Germany at the beginning of the century? 
What was the Broad Church Movement in 
England? The Low Church Movement? The 
Oxford Movement? What religious changes 
took place in America? 

6. When and where was the first Sunday-school 
in the world? Describe the progress of the Sun- 
day-school. 

7. In what three ways did the Church of the 
Brethren develop most during the nineteenth 
century? Tell something of each. 

8. What is the difference between Church 
"union" and Church "unity"? What progress 
was made in each? 

9. Give two reasons for the study of Church 
history. 



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